Analyst Reveals Jaguars' Biggest Bright Spot from Miserable Season

The 2024 NFL season may have been a bad one for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but they did have one major bright spot in the middle of all the chaos.

Dec 29, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr (7) catches the ball for a touchdown against Tennessee Titans cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. (29) in the fourth quarter at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images / Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars did not exactly have a fun year this past season, as they went just 4-13 in spite of entering 2024 with playoff aspirations.

Almost nothing went right for the Jaguars. Trevor Lawrence missed seven games due to injuries, the defense was an unmitigated disaster and the coaching situation was a complete mess.

Things appear to be settling heading into 2025, as Jacksonville has found a new coach in Liam Coen and has filled out the rest of the staff with intriguing pieces that should make life much easier for Lawrence and the offense next season.

But were there any bright spots at all from the Jaguars' 2024 campaign? There definitely was at least one: wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr.

Kyle Soppe of Pro Football Network thinks that Thomas has already arrived and provided him with some pretty hefty recognition in a recent piece.

"The Jaguars are a long ways away from competing at a high level, but when you look at the elite eight of the NFL this season, every team had either a game-changing QB or a star receiver," Soppe wrote before going on to make a list.

He then went on to explain that while we don't know if Lawrence is at that level yet, we already know the answer with Thomas.

"We don’t know that Trevor Lawrence qualifies as such, but after one season, it’s hard not to believe that Brian Thomas Jr. is on that trajectory at the receiver position," Soppe wrote. "As a rookie, he cleared 75 receiving yards in seven straight to round out the season and finished second to Ja’Marr Chase in 40-yard receptions (Thomas had seven of Jacksonville’s eight such grabs)."

Thomas hauled in 87 receptions for 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns on the year en route to a Pro Bowl appearance.

"BTJ (28.6%) topped both Chase (27.3%) and Justin Jefferson (26.6%) in terms of percentage of red-zone routes that yielded a target — he’s not an ascending star, he already is one," Soppe concluded.

The Jaguars definitely landed on heck of a steal in Thomas, who they plucked with the 23rd overall pick in the NFL Draft last April.

Now, let's just hope Jacksonville can put the necessary surrounding pieces around Lawrence and Thomas for the future.

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