Brian Thomas Camp Update — August 23: Fed Heavily in the Carolina Joint

Brian Thomas was the focal point of Jacksonville's passing work in Wednesday's joint practice with Carolina — heavily targeted with Parker Washington sidelined by an undisclosed injury, and he caught nearly everything sent his way, missing only the final two attempts of his day, per John Shipley at Jaguar Report. It came in the same session where Trevor Lawrence ran the red-zone period without a miss by Shipley's account, three consecutive touchdown throws to Jakobi Meyers, Brenton Strange and Nate Boerkircher. Thomas's afternoon was volume rather than end-zone highlights, which is its own kind of signal: when a target opened, the first offense kept looking his way.

He then sat Friday's 34-to-17 loss to the Panthers with the entire starting cast, per John Oehser at the team's website, while sixth-round rookies Josh Cameron and CJ Williams combined for six catches against Carolina's reserves and drew Liam Coen's praise for "earning trust." That is depth-chart churn beneath Thomas, not around him — nothing this week put his role in any question.

What the week could not provide is the thing his file still lacks. Back in June we previewed Thomas as the widest range of outcomes we cover, a near-1300-yard rookie season against a year-two collapse with a catch rate under 50 percent, and said the answer needed game reps. Three preseason weeks in, he has taken none — Jacksonville's starters have sat both games, and Coen indicated the starters are unlikely to play the finale against Tampa Bay either, per the team's website. The practice ledger keeps stacking on the rookie-version side; the game ledger remains empty, and it may stay empty until the opener.

What to watch: whether Thomas takes any snaps in the preseason finale against expectations, and whether the daily reports keep listing him as the primary target once Washington returns to practice. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._