The Jaguars are staring at a Brian Thomas Jr. decision coming out of the bye, and the list of realistic paths is a short one.
Thomas, the former first-round pick, has become the roster’s most pressing question through the first six weeks of the season. Jacksonville’s choice now is whether to keep pushing forward with him, bench him, or move him before the situation gets any messier.
A trade looks like the cleanest route, and maybe the most likely one, based on how the Jaguars handled him against the Texans. Liam Coen and the staff made their stance pretty clear by not giving Thomas a single second-half snap in a game the Jaguars spent much of the time chasing points. Even with Jacksonville leaning pass-heavy while trailing, the team preferred Travis Hunter, Josh Cameron, or multiple tight ends over Thomas in a crucial spot.
That kind of usage only strengthens the idea that the Jaguars could decide he is no longer part of the immediate answer. And if that happens, the market may actually be there. The mention of Marvin Harrison Jr. going for a second and a Day 3 pick swap points to a possible return that could make sense for Jacksonville, especially with the Jaguars now having more depth than they did this offseason when Thomas’ value was higher.
There are a few teams that could fit, too. Washington Commanders with his college quarterback.
A Los Angeles Rams group that is banged up and running short on wide receivers. A Las Vegas Raiders offense with a young quarterback and a middling receiver room.
If Jacksonville wants to deal him, the options are there.
The other path is even more extreme: keep him sidelined. Thomas could be a healthy scratch against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 8, or simply remain out of the rotation.
He has no special teams value, which makes inactivity a real possibility. But that approach comes with a cost.
If he isn’t playing, the Jaguars would almost certainly damage his trade value and limit their leverage in talks.
That’s the trade-off for Jacksonville. Sitting him might help the team on a given Sunday, but it also makes it harder to get meaningful value back if a deal is the goal. A second-round pick still feels possible on talent and pedigree alone, but that idea gets a lot shakier if he’s not on the field at all.
The final option is the least dramatic, and maybe the most familiar: keep trying to force it. That’s the lane the Jaguars have been on for a while, and it hasn’t paid off. Thomas slid behind the pecking order last season after Jakobi Meyers arrived, and in the six regular-season games Thomas played alongside Meyers, he had just one game with a target rate above 20%, compared to four before Meyers was traded for.
This season started with Thomas expected to remain involved, just not as the obvious center of the passing game. But the production has not followed.
After a quiet Week 1 in which he caught three passes for 40 yards, Thomas has managed only three catches for 25 yards and a touchdown on eight targets over the last month. That output is less than what Travis Hunter and Josh Cameron have produced in single games this season.
So the Jaguars are left with three choices: trade him, park him, or keep feeding him snaps and hoping the offense finally gets something back. The last option has been the path of least resistance, but it has already cost Jacksonville points and first downs in key moments. That makes it look like the least likely answer of the three.
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Jaguars Bye Week Respect Suddenly Feels Like A Real AFC Debate
A close loss to the Texans sent the Jaguars into their bye week at 4-2, but it did not do much to dent the broader view of where Jacksonville stands in the AFC. Liam Coen sounded encouraged by what he has seen so far, even with the frustration of finishing short in Houston, and the sense around the league is that the Jaguars have enough quality to stay in the conversation as the season settles in.
Power rankings have reflected that respect, with Jacksonville mostly showing up in the top 10 even as different outlets have nudged the club up or down depending on the week. The bigger question now is whether the Jaguars can use the break to clean up the issues Coen pointed to and prove that this early push is more than just a strong first half of the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Suddenly Face A Brutal Left Tackle Problem Before Stretch Run
The Jaguars offensive line took another hard hit with Anton Harrisons season ending in a way nobody in Jacksonville wanted to see. Harrison, who was already on injured reserve, suffered a torn ACL during surgery, leaving the team without the left tackle it had hoped to get back as the year pushed toward its finish.
Walker Little is now the obvious option to handle the job the rest of the way, and that puts the Jaguars in a familiar sort of late-season stress test up front. The timing is especially painful because the injury timeline points to a possible Week 1 return next season, which means Jacksonville has to make do now while also keeping an eye on what this means for the line going forward. [Read more 🡒]