Jaguars must add depth at one crucial offensive position in 2025

Interestingly, one of the biggest offensive bright spots for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2024 is the same position the club must address in the offseason.

Brian Thomas Jr.’s rookie campaign was nothing short of extraordinary, finishing third in the NFL for receiving yards (1,282) and catching 10 touchdowns. He had a remarkable campaign in virtually every statistical category, smashing the club record for receiving yards by a rookie.

The 2025 bar for Thomas is understandably high, and fans have every reason to be optimistic about what he’ll bring to the table next season. Having said that, the LSU Tiger will need help to duplicate or improve that success in the following campaign.

What the Jaguars are missing on offense in 2025

For as good as he was last year, Thomas is now undoubtedly going to be on the radar of opposing secondaries. That likely means he’ll draw the opposition’s best cornerbacks and double coverage more often than not. Getting open and finding daylight down the field won’t be as easy as for the LSU product as a result.

There were few dynamic players outside of Thomas for Trevor Lawrence and Mac Jones to throw to last season.

No offensive players on the team, besides Thomas, were in the NFL’s top 100 for receiving. After the 22-year-old, the next best Jags pass-catcher statistically was tight end Brenton Strange, who caught 40 passes for 411 yards and two touchdowns. Parker Washington was third with 390 yards through the air, Christian Kirk registered 379, and Evan Engram had 365.

When Kirk and Engram were healthy last season, they were uncharacteristically poor, making key drops at critical times.

How can the Jacksonville Jaguars solve that problem?

With an established top-end receiver on the roster, the Jaguars may be able to entice other veterans to come to Jacksonville. There’s a strong pool of pass-catchers on the market the Jags can sign.

Tee Higgins may want an opportunity to be a top guy which he probably won’t be with the Cincinnati Bengals, while Amari Cooper and Chris Godwin also figure highly on the list of free-agent receivers according to Pro Football Focus.

Of those names, the top one that may be convinced to join the Jags is Godwin. That’s because his offensive coordinator in 2024, Liam Coen became the head coach in Duval County.

Godwin is a former Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion who would climb up the depth chart instantly in Jacksonville with a coach he’d know well, assuming Coen gets the gig. Godwin played just seven regular-season games last season and still picked up 576 receiving yards and showed an ability to pick up big yards after the catch.

There’s a possibility the Jags will just hope that Gabe Davis is healthy and can be that secondary help and a deep threat, but even if he is, that might not be enough to help this offense in the passing game.

The other alternative would be for the franchise to take its chances and draft a receiver that will pan out like Thomas. At the top of that list would be Travis Hunter, who can play both ways but may be fully employed as a cornerback in the NFL. Other high-profile players in that position who are likely to go in the first round are Tre Harris and Tetairoa McMillan.

The Jags may not be lucky enough to land another big name who develops as quickly as Thomas, though.

Right now, the franchise has a marquee receiver, but that might not last if they fail to surround him with strong talent.

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