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Jaguars' Liam Coen: Brian Thomas 'attacking’ development, 'extremely intentional about the things he wanted to improve on' | Latest NFL News, Analysis & Updates | NFL.com

Jaguars' offensive coordinator Liam Coen praises wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr.'s dedication to improving his game for the upcoming season after a disappointing 2025 campaign.

First seen Aug 09, 2026 · 7:00 PM UTC · last updated Aug 10 5:31 PM

Scoring Zone's Take

Brian Thomas Jr. is the name to watch out of this cluster. Both sources point to OC Liam Coen publicly praising his offseason work ethic, which is a mild but meaningful signal heading into camp — coaches don't typically spotlight a young receiver's dedication unless he's putting himself in position for a bigger role. After a 2025 campaign the sources describe as disappointing, this kind of praise reads as an early bounce-back indicator rather than confirmation of anything concrete on paper. Treat it as a small positive nudge to his draft stock, not a reason to overhaul your rankings — internal buzz is encouraging, but you'll want to see it show up in preseason reps and target share before buying all the way in.

For draft prep purposes, Thomas Jr. is worth keeping on your radar as a potential value pick if his ADP still reflects last year's down year; a motivated, well-regarded receiver in a competitive offense is exactly the profile you look for as a late-round or bounce-back flier. Jakobi Meyers, Parker Washington, and Trevor Lawrence are mentioned only as context within this Jaguars receiver-room note — none of the sources give specific fantasy-relevant details on them, so there's nothing actionable to adjust for those three right now.

Confidence here is moderate — the sources are coach commentary rather than depth chart or usage news, so this is more scouting-report sentiment than a hard fantasy signal. Monitor camp reports for target competition and snap counts before locking in Thomas Jr.'s draft price, but the direction of the news is positive and worth filing away as you build your board.

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 amid 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.”

Coverage from Nfl Dot Com News · by Grant Gordon · Aug 09, 2026 · read original