Jaguars Mailbag: Should Urban Meyer Make a Move for Michael Thomas?
Each week during this year's season, Jaguar Report will take Jacksonville Jaguars-related questions from our readers across social media and answer them in a question-and-answer format, giving readers a chance to have their voices heard.
You can submit your questions every week by tweeting them to the Jaguar Report Twitter handle or by submitting them here.
This week we take questions on CJ Henderson, Michael Thomas and more.
Q: How highly do you rate Michael Thomas and his potential fit with the WR room? I’ve seen the Henderson, Chark, and a draft pick for Thomas deal floated on Twitter and I’m not as wild about it as some people seem to be. What are your thoughts?
This is a tough one. On one hand, before injuries started piling up, Thomas was one of the NFL's most productive receivers and was a dynamic possession threat, seemingly coming up with big catch after big catch. On the other hand, injuries derailed his entire 2020 season and thus far have done the same in 2021 as an ankle injury is set to force him to miss the start of the season.
When healthy, Thomas is likely a top-12 receiver or so. His numbers were a bit inflated due to his role and the fact he was playing with a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Drew Brees, but there was no denying his hands, route-running or ability to be a quarterback's safety blanket.
In terms of his fit with the Jaguars, Thomas would be the most accomplished receiver in the Jaguars' receiver room and would present them with a legitimate potential "alpha" of the group. With that said, I do wonder if he is a bit too redundant with Marvin Jones. Having Jones and Thomas on the field at the same time would give the Jaguars two possession receivers who don't get yards after the catch and don't provide a speed element. Eliminating DJ Chark from the equation would make the Jaguars even slower, which doesn't seem like a goal of Meyer's.
As of now, I think trading Chark for Thomas in any facet could be a counter-productive move for 2021, even if Thomas is the objectively better receiver. The Jaguars need speed and a deep threat, and Chark is their sole option to provide that.
Q: Chark, Jones, Shenault, Johnson, Agnew, and Treadwell will be the 6 WR’s. Yay or Nay?
I think you are mostly correct. I do wonder if the Jaguars would carry seven receivers so they could keep Phillip Dorsett in the fold, but he has hardly practiced during training camp due to an injury. If you were to pick the six best receivers in camp, this would be the order. Guys like Jalen Camp and Tavon Austin would be tough cuts, but that will be the case when the receiver room is deep.
My ultimate answer on the receiver room is to let the preseason play out. I mostly believe that because it truly does seem like the Jaguars want Dorsett and his speed element in the picture in some facet. Dorsett has ties to multiple members of the coaching staff and is right behind Chark on the deep threat pecking order. I feel like he would be a tough cut for Meyer, which could put Johnson or Treadwell on the bubble.
Q: If we were to indeed move on from CJ Henderson, what type of compensation would be acceptable in return? Would we just want future draft picks or would be in search of a position of need such as edge or TE?
I think they would probably try to get a top-100 pick back, mostly because Henderson is still owed a decent amount of money on his rookie deal. I am not convinced they could actually get that, but that feels like it would be their asking price. When it comes to player-for-player trades, there just aren't many tight ends worth trading for. For example, I think the Jaguars can get more value from working things out with Henderson as opposed to trading for Zach Ertz. And the ones who are worth trading for, I am not so sure that Henderson would be enough to sway a team into agreeing to a deal.
Henderson likely has a bit of trade value just because he is a former top-10 pick who had an abundance of fans throughout the NFL's 32 teams when he was going through the draft process. With that said, he has played in just eight games in his career and has had an up-and-down tenure with the new Jaguars' regime.
Q: What’s your expectation for how the staff handles the CJ Henderson situation, specifically before Week 1 and roster cuts?
I can't envision a scenario where the Jaguars voluntarily cut CJ Henderson. For as frustrated as Urban Meyer has seemed with his inability to stay on the field throughout training camp, the Jaguars' staff knows he is one of their most naturally talented players and they are a better football team if he is on it. The Jaguars won't go out of their way to make their cornerback room worse, not without pulling out every stop to either make things work with Henderson or recoup some value.
I believe Henderson will be on the Week 1 roster, though likely not as a starter. There hasn't been much to suggest to me the Jaguars actually want to trade Henderson elsewhere.
Q: Do you think there is still a QB competition? Is there any chance Trevor does not start against Houston? When will a starter be named?
A competition would imply there is an actual chance of Gardner Minshew winning the job from Trevor Lawrence, but I just can't wrap my head around that possibility. The Jaguars are slow-playing Lawrence's development much like the San Francisco 49ers are with Trey Lance because they have a serviceable veteran quarterback who is competent enough to keep the offense on schedule early in training camp while the rookies work out the kinks. But in both cases, the rookies are simply too talented to let sit on the bench.
I think Lawrence will be the unquestioned starter entering Week 1 and will start every single game that he is healthy for. I think they name a starter sometime after the second preseason game, because it seems like more and more teams are going to use that game as the dress rehearsal for the regular season.
Q: Are the Michael Thomas to the Jaguars rumors realistic and what do you think of it?
I don't think it is too realistic. Meyer and Thomas obviously have an extremely close relationship, but the Jaguars haven't operated like a team that wants to pour a ton of resources into any single move this season. They have made a lot of moves -- and spent a ton of cash and draft capital -- this year, but the entire impression Meyer has given is that he wants to get more experience and get the locker room built more in his vision before he starts splurging on personnel moves. For as much as Thomas and the Saints have seemingly battled one another, the Saints surely wouldn't give up one of the most productive receivers of the last five years for pennies.
Ultimately, Thomas is a great player and the Jaguars need more of those. But for the reasons outlined here and earlier in the mailbag, I just don't think it is a move that is likely to happen at any point.
Q: Do you think Treadwell makes the team?
Ask me again as the preseason progresses, but Laquon Treadwell has impressed at every turn in camp, and he has done so while getting more and more reps throughout camp due to injuries at receiver. Treadwell does give them another big-bodied receiver who can win in the middle of the field and he has shown special teams value throughout camp, so he is at least on the verge of the 53-man roster. Let's see how he does in the preseason games compared to Phillip Dorsett, though.
Q: Concerning the last few WR roster spots, the players who cannot contribute on special teams are going to be the odd men out, right?
This is correct. If you are not a starter in the NFL, you need to be able to play special teams to stick on a roster. We see countless players carve out careers solely as special teams specialists, so it is important for any player to be able to excel in that regard if they want to ensure a spot on the roster. With that said, the Jaguars have seen some special teams value in camp from Treadwell, Collin Johnson, Pharoh Cooper, Jamal Agnew, and Jalen Camp, so it isn't like they have receivers fighting for spots who aren't actively doing everything they can.
Q: Do you see Chark as the clear cut No. 1 when healthy? Or do you expect the ball to be spread around to 3 or 4 guys consistently?
I haven't gotten the impression from watching the Jaguars' offense in practice that any of Chark, Laviska Shenault or Marvin Jones will be targeted more heavily than the other two by a significant amount. I think the Jaguars know they have three talented receivers capable of doing three different things -- stretch the field, win contested catches and separate and get yards after the catch -- and they intend to use them as such, giving each the chance to make plays and not honing in on any one specific player week in and week out.
With that said, it is hard to project the receiver room at this point to an extent just because the room has been so banged up in camp. The Jaguars have been missing anywhere between three to six receivers in practices over the last week due to injuries at the position, so the rotation has been a bit different in camp than you will see during the regular season.
Q: How many of these bubble players will be practice squad eligible? Didn't the practice squad rules change?
Practice squad rules are the same as last season. Practice squads can carry up to 16 players, including six who have more than two accrued seasons. So essentially, the Jaguars can keep a good amount of players and even protect a few from being signed by other teams each week, just as last season.
Q: It looks like Nathan Cottrell is the odd man out. Is there any chance he makes the team or practice squad? What are you hearing about his chances. He seems like a great talent that can grow over time.
It just doesn't seem like he is high up on the pecking order. He has a dynamic skill set because he is an excellent athlete and has shown a lot of talent as a pass-catcher, but the Jaguars already have three running backs guaranteed to be on the roster with James Robinson, Carlos Hyde and Travis Etienne. Right now, I would guess that Dare Ogunbowale has the inside track to the No. 4 job, so that would put Cottrell with Dare Ozigbo as players potentially on the outside looking in.
Q: How many touches per game should we expect for Travis Etienne? Seems like he’s making the most of his touches in practice and can make an impact right away.
I think between 10-12 sounds right as of now. If the Jaguars didn't have as many weapons in the passing game and James Robinson sharing the backfield with Etienne, then I would say this number should be a good bit higher. Etienne has had a terrific training camp and has been incredibly efficient as a receiver, but the Jaguars have a lot of different players to get the ball to, which is far from being a bad thing.
