One way or the other, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Brian Thomas Jr. are coming to a conclusion to this trade saga.
The NFL trade deadline is on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 4 p.m. ET. Either BTJ will be moved to a new team before then, or he’ll be with the Jags for the rest of the season.
After weeks and months of trade rumors surrounding Thomas, an end point is coming.
The tricky part is that it still feels like it could go either way. Some analysts seem to think Thomas will get shipped out of town. Others point to the fact that the Jaguars seem to have no interest in trading the third-year wide receiver.
Something has to give, though.
The Jaguars have a bit of extra time to figure it out, too. Since they played on Thursday night, they don’t have to focus on a game on Sunday in Week 9 before the deadline. They’ve likely dialed in since beating the Ravens on Thursday to figure out exactly what they’ll do with their roster going forward.
One new update on Thomas came out on Saturday, too, which could prove to be some foreshadowing.
Brian Thomas Jr. Trade Update
The Athletic’s Jonathan Jones published a new article on Saturday in which he broke down a lot of the NFL’s trade situations, including BTJ.
He began his Thomas blurb with this heading: “No one believes Brian Thomas Jr. is long for Jacksonville.”
In other words, Jones still thinks Thomas gets traded.
“The Jaguars have held firm in keeping wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr,” Jones writes. “We’ll see if they keep that posture after Thursday. The rest of the league seems certain the Jags will part with Thomas. He has seemingly been erased from the offensive game plan, overtaken by Parker Washington and Jakobi Meyers, and serves as a useful trade asset who can help future Jacksonville teams. The Jags, meanwhile, are telling folks that he will help them win games. Perhaps that’s true in the global, stretch-the-field sort of way, but the ball isn’t coming to him. This season Thomas has 10 catches in 203 offensive plays. He has one catch in his last 112 snaps.”
If Thomas’ only role is to run down the field as a decoy, is that worth holding onto if another team will pay a solid price? That’s the question the Jaguars will have to answer.
Brian Thomas Jr. Destination
Jones goes on to quote an executive who thinks the Jaguars will trade Thomas to a non-contending team.
“After all, trading Thomas to a team the Jags won’t face in January or February would, in some ways, help the team,” Jones writes.
There’ve been links that the Kansas City Chiefs might want Thomas, but that would come with risk to the Jaguars that Thomas could help knock them out in the postseason.
If a rebuilding team wants Thomas, though, that might be more of the Jaguars’ speed in this situation to get a deal done by Tuesday.
Jaguars’ Brian Thomas Jr. Trade Update Points to Conclusion