As a rookie, Brian Thomas Jr. gave the Jacksonville Jaguars an element of verticality their offense had been missing for years. On top of that, he established himself as one of the top receivers in the NFL. But as impressive as he was, the former LSU Tiger is expected to be even better in Year 2. Heck, he's already been compared to the likes of Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase. Having said that, not everyone agrees he deserves to be part of the crème de la crème.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN posted the top 10 rankings of wide receivers of 2025 based on conversations with execs, scouts, and coaches from around the league. Many prominent names made the cut: Chase, Jefferson, Ceedee Lamb, and A.J. Brown. However, one was conspicuously absent, that of Thomas.
Granted, the sophomore wideout earned an honorable mention, but you could make the case that he deserved to be at least on the bottom half of the top 10. Here's what an AFC executive had to tell Fowler about the omission.
"He'll be on the list by next year. He can do it all," the executive said. "He took the league by storm last year. He's got size and can win in all areas of the field. There's not one thing you can't do with him. He can play outside or in the slot and dominate."
That most definitely sounds like a top-10 receiver, right? In Fowler's defense, he argued that Thomas was part of a "voting cluster for the ninth and 10th spots. Ultimately, Mike Evans and Garrett Wilson got the nod, while Thomas, along with Terry McLaurin and Puka Nacua, was left out.
On the other, there's one inclusion on the ranking that surely raised eyebrows...
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Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr. deserved to get the nod over Malik Nabers
Brian Thomas Jr. and Malik Nabers were both rookies in 2024. The former was more dominant last year, regardless of the metric you want to use, but only the latter made the top 10.
Sure, Nabers had more catches, but Thomas had a better average per reception and more total touchdowns than his New York Giants counterpart. You cannot make the argument that Nabers thrived in spite of his team's subpar quarterback situation, but Thomas didn't exactly have stability behind center, catching passes from Mac Jones for nearly half the season.
It's also worth noting that Nabers got a higher spot than Nico Collins and Mike Evans, both of whom have dominated for years. The only way to justify his inclusion on the top 10 is that many of the coaches and execs Jeremy Fowler talked to are in the New York market. Then again, that's just a conjecture. Moreover, he did have a pretty good rookie year, so it wasn't necessarily a shocking inclusion. Still, Thomas was more deserving.
The bottom line is that Brian Thomas Jr. is too good to be left out of the top 10 in any receiver ranking, and he'll prove that he deserves a spot in 2025 with another banner season.
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