The arrival of Travis Hunter has rightly generated lots of hype, and rightly so. However, it's easy to forget that the Jacksonville Jaguars already had a bona fide No. 1 receiver in Brian Thomas Jr. Trevor Lawrence is certainly thrilled about Hunter's addition to his arsenal of weapons, but he also had praise for Thomas during a recent exchange with the local media.
Lawrence met with reporters after Day 1 of Jaguars Organized Team Activities and said that Thomas was already impressive as a rookie and expects him to be even better in Year 2.
"I think, you know, obviously the talent's always been there, but I mean the confidence, obviously, off the year he had, and what he's done now, he has a full year on his belt where, you know, he's one of the top receivers in the league," Lawrence responded when asked what differences he sees in Thomas from last year. "I think my confidence in him, seeing him do his thing for a year now, and just you get that one one-on-one, you feel really confident about our guy."
Lawrence continued, "So just a lot of confidence. And I mean, smart, he's picking up, it's another system he's learning. It's two years in two systems, and just been impressed by how he carries himself, the work he puts in until he studies, because he comes in here, he knows his stuff. It's not an easy system to learn, and he's done a really nice job."
As Lawrence noted, Thomas was a playmaker as a rookie, leading all first-year receivers with 1,282 yards with 10 touchdowns on 82 catches. However, he truly hit his stride until his quarterback suffered a shoulder injury in the second half of the season.
Speaking of the injury, Lawrence said later in his exchange that he doesn't think it will take the two of them to readjust their chemistry, pointing out that his recovery could be the bigger issue.
"I went for a solid three and a half plus months without throwing, just with the shoulder deal, and so starting to throw a little bit for OTAs and working into it. I feel really good now. I feel like my arm's back in shape, feel like I'm getting sharper and sharper every day, so I think it was more that than necessarily getting the chemistry back with BT. I felt like we were just starting to get that last season, and obviously went down, and we weren't able to finish the year together," Lawrence said.
"But just being able to watch him, even though I wasn't playing, be able to watch his one to watch his one-on-one reps, the stuff we were doing with him last year, and the situations he was put in, and how he was able to adapt and play the slot and move outside and really take advantage of every matchup. I think that also gave me a ton of confidence in seeing like this is a guy where you can move him anywhere, you can do anything, and he's going to just find a way to get the ball."
Lawrence originally got hurt in Week 9 of the 2024 season. Although he tried to come back a few games later, he chose not to push through the injury and instead got surgery done. OTAs presented the first time the former Clemson Tiger got to practice with his teammates. He's on a pitch count and still in the process of recovery, so it will be a while before he's at full strength.
Trevor Larwence knows the Jaguars have a special player in Brian Thomas Jr.
Brian Thomas Jr. showed just how special he is last year: He managed to thrive in spite of catching passes from Mac Jones and having to deal with double teams more often than not. With Trevor Lawrence back in the fold, he should be even better in 2025.
Sure, Travis Hunter will take away some of Thomas targets, but and Dyami Brown will also draw away coverage away from him, which will in turn set him against more favorable matchups.
It's possible that Thomas is somewhat flying under the radar because the Jaguars finished 4-13 last year, but if he once again plays at a high level and they win more games in 2025, he'll become a household name in the NFL.