Jaguars' Brian Thomas Jr. Seen as Elite Fantasy Football Option

Jacksonville Jaguars star wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. put the entire NFL on notice with his record-breaking rookie season in 2024. Now, the respect is pouring in.

Thomas is widely seen as one of the NFL's top wide receivers entering his sophomore campaign, something that is reflected in the recent fantasy football positional rankings from PFF.

Despite the Jaguars adding both Dyami Brown and Travis Hunter at the wide receiver position, Thomas ranked No. 7 on PFF's pre-training camp rankings -- behind only Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Puka Nacua, Malik Nabers, CeeDee Lamb, and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

"Brian Thomas Jr. is coming off an impressive rookie season of his own, leading all rookies in yards per route run (2.45), receiving yards (1,282) and receiving touchdowns (10) in 2024. Thomas really took off in the latter half of the year, as he averaged 60.7 yards per game from Weeks 1-10 as the PPR WR13, which was still great, but then really kicked into high gear, averaging 96.7 yards per game as the PPR WR5 from Weeks 11-18," PFF said.

"Year 2 expectations are high, even with potentially significant target competition added in the form of Travis Hunter. This upgraded offense should allow both to deliver starting fantasy potential. Thomas should be the greatest beneficiary of Liam Coen’s offense, and hopefully, a healthy Trevor Lawrence will allow this high-end potential to come to fruition."

Even with the additions of Hunter and Brown, the Jaguars have made it clear at several stops this offseason that the passing game will still run through Thomas.

After a rookie year in which he broke every single Jaguars rookie receiving record, it is fair to say expectations are even higher for the 2024 first-round product out of LSU as he enters his second season.

“Yeah, I think I saw so much of it, obviously a different entity, with [former Rams WR] Cooper Kupp in L.A. where you're getting a lot of double coverage. It would more so be from the slot, where maybe they have a nickel playing outside leverage and then a safety or a linebacker inside of him to double," Liam Coen said during the offseason program.

"Then go to Tampa with [Buccaneers WR] Mike Evans and he's more of that outside receiver that's getting the corner and the safety double. So it's really just about creating balance. And okay, if we put them on the same side, well can we dictate maybe where the double may go and help get one-on-one coverage elsewhere. As we go and see maybe how people defend us that way with Brian, it'll help kind of dictate whether we want to get the one-on-one matchup on the inside or on the outside, at the running back position, at the tight end position. So it kind of helps dictate terms, even though it can be annoying at times to get double teams.”