What Jaguars' Dyami Brown Must Prove

Jayden Daniels led the Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship Game, but he couldn’t have done it without wide receiver Dyami Brown. The veteran target exploded for 229 yards and a touchdown on 14 receptions in Washington’s three playoff games.

But over his four NFL seasons before that playoff run, including 2024, Brown totaled just 784 yards and four touchdowns on 59 receptions. ESPN’s Seth Walder certainly isn’t the only analyst critical of the Jaguars’ decision to sign Brown to a one-year, $10 million contract.

“I'm very skeptical of Brown,” Walder said Thursday, giving the Jaguars a C grade on their overall offseason moves. “There's a big chance that the playoffs were an outlier.”

The Jaguars figure to lean into Brown, at least for parts of games, as their No. 2 wide receiver next to Brian Thomas. That’s because the team’s other primary target is rookie Travis Hunter, who might need a few more breathers than typical wide receivers.

But Brown is part of the offensive vision in Jacksonville’s new regime. Head coach Liam Coen and general manager James Gladstone said they signed every player they targeted during the unrestricted free agency period, including the former Commanders wide receiver.

“You look at somebody that’s able to attack the field at all three levels,” Coen said in March on why they signed Brown. “He can go down the field on the post, in the go, in the pylons and bet he top shelf, but also you can throw him a screen and he can go and do something with it.

“I can’t coach that. I can’t coach you to go and make three people miss after you’ve caught the ball. We can try. I’ll teach an obstacle course, some open-field running, sideline stiff arm, but at the end of the day, we’re getting to play so you can go be you with the ball in your hands. That’s what he can do.”

Trevor Lawrence hopes so. The quarterback faces plenty of pressure after immediately answering a five-year, $275-million contract extension with a 2-8 record as a starter in 2024. In addition to Brown and Hunter, Gladstone and Coen also revamped Lawrence’s offensive line. Walder said the most impressive Jaguars signing was starter Patrick Mekari to a three-year contract that averages $12.5 million per season.

“Mekari is a versatile lineman with experience at center, guard and tackle,” Walder wrote, “and had a 95% pass block win rate at guard last season, which ranked fifth best at the position.”

But even if Mekari and fellow free agents Robert Hainsey and Chuma Edoga can give Lawrence improvement up front, the Jaguars figure to go only as far as Brown takes them. Defenses are expected to pay most of their attention to Thomas and Hunter, so whether Brown plays like he did in the playoffs or lacks production like he did in the regular season should be critical.

“He’s hungry,” Coen said. “He’s coming off a successful end of the year. He wants to continue to do that, and that’s what’s been fun about having those conversations with him.”

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