Jaguars' Liam Coen: Brian Thomas 'attacking’ development, 'extremely intentional about the things he wanted to improve on'
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence pinpoints wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. in the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown to give the Jaguars a 7-3 lead over the Buffalo Bills.
Surprising as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ run to an AFC South title might have been to some, the most stunning aspect was likely that with all that success, Brian Thomas Jr. was turning in a disappointing year.
Thomas was scintillating as a rookie the year previously, but he didn’t fly to success during his first season in Liam Coen’s offense. Such were Thomas’ struggles that trade rumors swirled.
Thomas is very much a part of Coen’s plans for 2026 and the LSU product has been steadfast in his approach to make 2025 an outlier season rather than a foreshadowing of things to come.
“I think in the spring, very early on, honestly, you could sense that he had really looked at things in areas in which he thought he could improve upon, and he was attacking those areas, and not just, like, yeah, it'll fix, like, it'll come,” Coen said Friday, via team transcript. “I thought he was extremely intentional about the things he wanted to improve on, and the connection and relationship with Trevor [Lawrence] and the other receivers.”
After the Jaguars took Thomas 23rd overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, the wideout responded with a Pro Bowl season, racking up 87 receptions, 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns.
That was under head coach Doug Pederson, though. Similar success wasn’t had in Thomas’ first year with Coen. His numbers (48/707/2) significantly dropped while Lawrence had arguably his finest season, the Jags won the division, tallied a terrific 13-4 campaign, and Parker Washington became the top target. When Jacksonville traded for Jakobi Meyers, Thomas’ waning production was overshadowed even more.
He’s responded with an ardent approach of not being left behind again.
“Brian's very smart,” Coen said. “Like you can move Brian around. He's extremely smart. He can handle multiple different schemes and concepts and things like that. And so, I think that he is extremely, I mean, he's playing confident right now.”
