Brian Thomas — Week 3: One Target, Eight Yards

Nothing to nothing, the first snap of the second quarter, first and 10 at the New England 23. Trevor Lawrence threw short left to Brian Thomas, who took it eight yards to the 15 before Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones brought him down. +0.5 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. Three snaps later Josh Cameron caught the 12-yard touchdown that opened the scoring.

That is the whole line: one target, one catch, eight yards, no first down. The play-by-play carries no other mention of him and no injury note. Lawrence threw 29 times and 27 had a receiver: Jakobi Meyers eight, Parker Washington and Brenton Strange five each, Cameron, LeQuint Allen and Bhayshul Tuten two apiece, and one each to Thomas, Ameer Abdullah and Nate Boerkircher.

Back in June the preview put Thomas on the watchlist: a nearly 1300-yard rookie, then a sophomore collapse to 48 catches on 91 targets and two touchdowns, with the target volume as the tell. Week 1 was three catches in three minutes of the first quarter, then a shoulder injury, per John Oehser at jaguars.com. Week 2 was eight targets, three catches and 40 yards, with the last two throws of the game his way. Sunday was one. Three games, 12 targets, seven catches, 88 yards, no touchdown. The June read said to watch the volume, and one target in a 29-point win is a small number whichever way it is read. Jacksonville is at the Bengals on Sunday the fourth.

_Data via nflverse._