Parker Washington’s heroics steal the spotlight in Jaguars’ win vs. Broncos

Since being traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jakobi Meyers has become a key cog in the passing game. However, the Denver Broncos zeroed in on him and did a good job of containing him in Week 16. What they didn't count on was that with Meyers getting plenty of attention, Trevor Lawrence was going to turn to Parker Washington.

Washington routinely came through for Jacksonville, hauling in six passes for a career-best 145 yards with a touchdown. The former Penn State Nittany Lion had several long games and was arguably the team's MVP in the 34-20 win.

Parker Washington proved the Jaguars can count on him

Trevor Lawrence had yet another dominant performance after his historic outing against the New York Jets. This time, he completed 63.9 percent of his throws for 299 yards with three passing touchdowns. On top of that, Steezy Trev had a rushing touchdown. But as impressive as he was, it was Parker Washington who stole the show.

As Next Gen Stats pointed out on Twitter, 90 of Washington's 145 yards came after the catch. Moreover, his +70 yards after catch over expected are the most by any player in a game this season. Simply put, the Sugar Land, Texas native was unstoppable.

Following the Broncos game, Liam Coen heaped praise on Washington, citing his frame and explosiveness as a couple of reasons for his success.

"Yeah, man, he's so explosive. He's so strong," Coen told the local media (mark). "His lower half is very explosive. He works extremely hard in the offseason to prepare. He works extremely hard during the season to prepare, to get his body right. And we knew, we weren't sure who [Patrick] Surtain would match, whether it would be BT or Jacoby, and a lot of things were kind of set up for Parker to have a day and to be one of the number one targets of today."

Coen continued, "So that didn't just happen. We prepared that way all week. Wanted to get him involved early, and he had a look in his eye from a very early start that he was going to have a big day."

Below is Coen's full exchange with reporters. His remarks about Washington start at the 3:33 mark.

Related: Liam Coen claps back at Sean Payton after the Jags' win vs. the Broncos

Parker Washington has become a key contributor for the Jaguars

Even though the Jaguars had moved on from slot receiver Christian Kirk in the offseason, it looked like Parker Washington could tumble down the depth chart after the team brass added Travis Hunter and Dyami Brown to the receiver corps. However, that wasn't the case.

Washington got to work and showed in training camp that he deserved a featured role. Then, the regular season came, and the 2023 sixth-round pick came through when called upon. With two games to go, he's hauled in 39 catches for 500 yards, both career highs, with three touchdowns.

It's now abundantly clear that the Jaguars made the right call when they cut ties with Christian Kirk to pave the way for Parker Washington. Their trust was rewarded in a big way in the win over the Broncos.