No surprise here, but Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. was named to ESPN’s All-Rookie team for the 2024 NFL season.
Ben Solak recently built out his first and second-team honorees based on their impact as well as their film. Thomas was, of course, received first-team honors, along with LSU teammate Malik Nabers and Ladd McConkey.
“Long, ridiculously fast and excellent at tracking the football through contact, Thomas is a walking big play, coming either on a deep target or with a huge run after the catch,” wrote Solak.
What makes Thomas’ season even more impressive is that in an offense that would struggle, he was still incredibly difficult for opposing defenses to stop.
Overall, Thomas would finish his rookie season catching 67% of his 129 targets for 1,282 yards at a hefty 14.7 yards per catch with 10 touchdowns, impact all parts of the field, as Solak noted, including as a vertical threat and on short to intermediate routes with his speed and YAC ability.
Let’s by-pass the rest of the rookie class for a second and focus on the receiver position as a whole. Thomas was fourth among all receivers in receiving yards, he tied for fifth in touchdowns, and was sixth in yards per route run–an efficiency metric from PFF.
In what was a loaded rookie wide receiver class, Thomas finished the regular season first in each of those aforementioned categories among first year pass-catchers.
Thomas will have a legitimate chance of winning the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award this season.
