Brian Thomas — Week 2: Eight Targets, Three Catches
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Thomas caught 3 of 8 targets for 40 yards, all three for first downs, led by a 22-yard catch on the first snap of the second quarter. He was 0 for 3 after halftime, including Jacksonville's last two throws of the game on second and third and 11, in a 20–13 loss to the Broncos.
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Nothing to nothing, the first snap of the second quarter, first and 10 at the Denver 47. Trevor Lawrence threw short left, 15 yards in the air, and Brian Thomas took it 22 yards to the Denver 25. +1.6 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 6.8 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the third-largest gain by any Jacksonville play of the day. The drive ended in Bhayshul Tuten's touchdown.
The line: eight targets, three catches, 40 yards, three first downs, −1.2 expected points on the targets, 82 air yards. Three catches for 40 is the same line as Week 1, on five more targets. The other two catches were nine yards apiece in the last 90 seconds of the half: second and nine from the Jacksonville 21, and second and five at the Denver 47, pushed out at the 38 with 21 seconds left, on the drive that ended in a 44-yard field goal. The incompletions sit at both ends. His first two targets fell incomplete, one of them a short throw on third and 18. After halftime he was targeted three times, all in the fourth quarter, and caught none: first and 10 at the Denver 38 with the game tied, broken up by Riley Moss; then second and 11 and third and 11 from the Jacksonville 34, down 20 to 13 with under five minutes left, the second of them deep left, 31 yards in the air, broken up by Pat Surtain. Jacksonville punted and did not get the ball back.
Eight targets was second on the team to Parker Washington's 12, and the two of them took 20 of Lawrence's 29 throws. Five of his eight came before halftime.
Back in June the preview's line on Thomas was a 1300-yard rookie and a sophomore collapse, with a catch rate under 50 percent last season and a touchdown drought the preview expected to ease. Week 1 was three catches in three minutes, then a shoulder injury reported by John Oehser at jaguars.com, and no target after it; the thing to watch was whether he would be on the field for all of the next one. Sunday he was targeted in the first, second and fourth quarters, including the last two throws Jacksonville made. The role is there. Three of eight is the catch rate the preview flagged, against a secondary that held the whole passing game to five of 12 after halftime. Two games, no touchdown yet. Jacksonville is home to the Patriots on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
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