Seth Walder of ESPN put together his list of the top 100 ‘real MVP candidates’ from the 2024 season, and included was one player from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
As Walder mentions, the MVP conversation each year centers around the quarterback and focuses in on only five or so candidates. Walder wanted to go beyond–far beyond–that conversation, which is why he put this list together.
A few notes that Walder makes is that this list only takes into account the 2024 regular season. The value in ‘valuable’ that Walder wants to identify is based on the difference between a player and an average starter at that player’s position.
In order to calculate these rankings, Walder leaned on numerous metrics including ESPN win rates, receiving tracking metrics, PFF grades, and more. Walder also made some tweaks afer getting feedback from “trusted talent evaluators” in NFL front offices.
For more on how Walder constructed these rankings, click here.
When it comes to the Jaguars specifically, that one player who made this list–to what I’m going to guess is the surprise of no one–is wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr.
In what was considered a load rookie wide receiver draft class, Thomas was the most productive of the group, and in general, one of the most productive wide receivers in all of football.
Thomas finished his first NFL season catching 87-of-129 targets (67.4%) at 14.7 yards per catch with 10 touchdowns. The 1,282 receiving yards that he totaled were the fifth-most this season.
With elite speed, Thomas was a threat at all levels of the field, able to win downfield along with turning receptions on short to intermediate routes into explosive gains with his YAC ability.
Thomas was also recently named a first-team member of ESPN’s All-Rookie team for the 2024 season.
