No one is really sure what Jacksonville's offense will look like under Urban Meyer. How he'll use his running backs, what the depth chart will look like at tight end, and how the wideouts will be ordered. Meyer had some things to say about potential No. 1 DJ Chark yesterday.
"He's a big guy that played little last year, and that can't happen," said Meyer. "He's got to play big and strong."
Kind of damning comments. Chark himself is apparently rising to the challenge, hitting the weight room and putting on muscle. Last year he was listed at 6-foot-4 and 198 pounds, but says today he weighs 210. Whether that extra weight will cost him some speed, we'll see, but ideally he'll be a stronger player. Perhaps that will help his catch rate, which wasn't great last year. Quarterbacking was a factor, but maybe "playing little" in Meyer's eyes includes not catching as many contested passes as he should have. Whatever the case, his catch rate was down from 2019 to 2020. Jacksonville's other top candidate to be the team's No. 1 wideout, Marvin Jones, was better.
Table shows catch rates for all wideouts with at least 90 targets in either of the last two seasons. Chark shows up below-average among the 84 qualifying wide receivers in 2019, but had one of the 15 worst catch rates last season. Jones -- albeit working with a better quarterback -- was in the top 35 both years.
| WR CATCH RATES, 2019-2020 (90+ TARGETS) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Fmb |
| 2019 | Michael Thomas | 185 | 149 | 1725 | 11.6 | 9 | 80.5% |
| 2020 | Curtis Samuel | 97 | 77 | 851 | 11.1 | 3 | 79.4% |
| 2020 | Davante Adams | 149 | 115 | 1374 | 12.0 | 18 | 77.2% |
| 2020 | Cole Beasley | 107 | 82 | 967 | 11.8 | 4 | 76.6% |
| 2020 | Stefon Diggs | 166 | 127 | 1535 | 12.1 | 8 | 76.5% |
| 2020 | JuJu Smith-Schuster | 128 | 97 | 831 | 8.6 | 9 | 75.8% |
| 2020 | Tyler Lockett | 132 | 100 | 1054 | 10.5 | 10 | 75.8% |
| 2019 | Tyler Lockett | 110 | 82 | 1057 | 12.9 | 8 | 74.5% |
| 2020 | Cooper Kupp | 124 | 92 | 974 | 10.6 | 3 | 74.2% |
| 2020 | Sterling Shepard | 90 | 66 | 656 | 9.9 | 3 | 73.3% |
| 2020 | DeAndre Hopkins | 160 | 115 | 1407 | 12.2 | 6 | 71.9% |
| 2020 | Tyler Boyd | 110 | 79 | 841 | 10.7 | 4 | 71.8% |
| 2020 | Jarvis Landry | 101 | 72 | 840 | 11.7 | 3 | 71.3% |
| 2019 | Chris Godwin | 121 | 86 | 1333 | 15.5 | 9 | 71.1% |
| 2020 | Amari Cooper | 130 | 92 | 1114 | 12.1 | 5 | 70.8% |
| 2020 | Corey Davis | 92 | 65 | 984 | 15.1 | 5 | 70.7% |
| 2020 | Justin Jefferson | 125 | 88 | 1400 | 15.9 | 7 | 70.4% |
| 2019 | Cooper Kupp | 134 | 94 | 1161 | 12.4 | 10 | 70.1% |
| 2020 | Robby Anderson | 136 | 95 | 1096 | 11.5 | 3 | 69.9% |
| 2019 | Keenan Allen | 149 | 104 | 1199 | 11.5 | 6 | 69.8% |
| 2020 | Robert Woods | 129 | 90 | 936 | 10.4 | 6 | 69.8% |
| 2019 | DeAndre Hopkins | 150 | 104 | 1165 | 11.2 | 7 | 69.3% |
| 2019 | Larry Fitzgerald | 109 | 75 | 804 | 10.7 | 4 | 68.8% |
| 2020 | Adam Thielen | 108 | 74 | 925 | 12.5 | 14 | 68.5% |
| 2019 | Marvin Jones | 91 | 62 | 779 | 12.6 | 9 | 68.1% |
| 2020 | Brandin Cooks | 119 | 81 | 1150 | 14.2 | 6 | 68.1% |
| 2019 | Emmanuel Sanders | 97 | 66 | 869 | 13.2 | 5 | 68.0% |
| 2020 | Keenan Allen | 147 | 100 | 992 | 9.9 | 8 | 68.0% |
| 2019 | Calvin Ridley | 93 | 63 | 866 | 13.8 | 7 | 67.7% |
| 2020 | Allen Robinson | 151 | 102 | 1250 | 12.3 | 6 | 67.5% |
| 2019 | Stefon Diggs | 94 | 63 | 1130 | 17.9 | 6 | 67.0% |
| 2020 | CeeDee Lamb | 111 | 74 | 935 | 12.6 | 5 | 66.7% |
| 2019 | Amari Cooper | 119 | 79 | 1189 | 15.1 | 8 | 66.4% |
| 2020 | Marvin Jones | 115 | 76 | 978 | 12.9 | 9 | 66.1% |
| 2020 | Russell Gage | 109 | 72 | 786 | 10.9 | 4 | 66.1% |
| 2020 | A.J. Brown | 106 | 70 | 1075 | 15.4 | 11 | 66.0% |
| 2019 | Julian Edelman | 153 | 100 | 1117 | 11.2 | 6 | 65.4% |
| 2019 | Davante Adams | 127 | 83 | 997 | 12.0 | 5 | 65.4% |
| 2019 | Dede Westbrook | 101 | 66 | 660 | 10.0 | 3 | 65.3% |
| 2020 | Terry McLaurin | 134 | 87 | 1118 | 12.9 | 4 | 64.9% |
| 2019 | Robert Woods | 139 | 90 | 1134 | 12.6 | 2 | 64.7% |
| 2020 | Tyreek Hill | 135 | 87 | 1276 | 14.7 | 15 | 64.4% |
| 2019 | DJ Moore | 135 | 87 | 1175 | 13.5 | 4 | 64.4% |
| 2020 | DK Metcalf | 129 | 83 | 1303 | 15.7 | 10 | 64.3% |
| 2020 | Mike Evans | 109 | 70 | 1006 | 14.4 | 13 | 64.2% |
| 2019 | Diontae Johnson | 92 | 59 | 680 | 11.5 | 5 | 64.1% |
| 2019 | Jamison Crowder | 122 | 78 | 833 | 10.7 | 6 | 63.9% |
| 2019 | Danny Amendola | 97 | 62 | 678 | 10.9 | 1 | 63.9% |
| 2019 | Allen Robinson | 154 | 98 | 1147 | 11.7 | 7 | 63.6% |
| 2019 | Cole Beasley | 106 | 67 | 778 | 11.6 | 6 | 63.2% |
| 2019 | Julio Jones | 157 | 99 | 1394 | 14.1 | 6 | 63.1% |
| 2019 | Christian Kirk | 108 | 68 | 709 | 10.4 | 3 | 63.0% |
| 2020 | Calvin Ridley | 143 | 90 | 1374 | 15.3 | 9 | 62.9% |
| 2019 | John Brown | 115 | 72 | 1060 | 14.7 | 6 | 62.6% |
| 2020 | Brandon Aiyuk | 96 | 60 | 748 | 12.5 | 5 | 62.5% |
| 2019 | Terry McLaurin | 93 | 58 | 919 | 15.8 | 7 | 62.4% |
| 2020 | Darnell Mooney | 98 | 61 | 631 | 10.3 | 4 | 62.2% |
| 2020 | Tee Higgins | 108 | 67 | 908 | 13.6 | 6 | 62.0% |
| 2019 | DJ Chark | 118 | 73 | 1008 | 13.8 | 8 | 61.9% |
| 2020 | DeVante Parker | 103 | 63 | 793 | 12.6 | 4 | 61.2% |
| 2020 | Diontae Johnson | 144 | 88 | 923 | 10.5 | 7 | 61.1% |
| 2019 | Tyler Boyd | 148 | 90 | 1046 | 11.6 | 5 | 60.8% |
| 2020 | T.Y. Hilton | 93 | 56 | 762 | 13.6 | 5 | 60.2% |
| 2019 | Jarvis Landry | 138 | 83 | 1174 | 14.1 | 6 | 60.1% |
| 2019 | Michael Gallup | 113 | 66 | 1107 | 16.8 | 6 | 58.4% |
| 2019 | Courtland Sutton | 124 | 72 | 1112 | 15.4 | 6 | 58.1% |
| 2020 | Marquise Brown | 100 | 58 | 769 | 13.3 | 8 | 58.0% |
| 2019 | DK Metcalf | 100 | 58 | 900 | 15.5 | 7 | 58.0% |
| 2019 | Sammy Watkins | 90 | 52 | 673 | 12.9 | 3 | 57.8% |
| 2020 | DJ Chark | 93 | 53 | 706 | 13.3 | 5 | 57.0% |
| 2020 | Chase Claypool | 109 | 62 | 873 | 14.1 | 9 | 56.9% |
| 2019 | Mike Evans | 118 | 67 | 1157 | 17.3 | 8 | 56.8% |
| 2019 | DeVante Parker | 128 | 72 | 1202 | 16.7 | 9 | 56.3% |
| 2020 | Michael Gallup | 105 | 59 | 843 | 14.3 | 5 | 56.2% |
| 2019 | Kenny Golladay | 116 | 65 | 1190 | 18.3 | 11 | 56.0% |
| 2020 | DJ Moore | 118 | 66 | 1193 | 18.1 | 4 | 55.9% |
| 2019 | Odell Beckham | 133 | 74 | 1035 | 14.0 | 4 | 55.6% |
| 2019 | Mike Williams | 90 | 49 | 1001 | 20.4 | 2 | 54.4% |
| 2019 | Robby Anderson | 96 | 52 | 779 | 15.0 | 5 | 54.2% |
| 2019 | Chris Conley | 90 | 47 | 775 | 16.5 | 5 | 52.2% |
| 2020 | Darius Slayton | 96 | 50 | 751 | 15.0 | 3 | 52.1% |
| 2019 | Curtis Samuel | 105 | 54 | 627 | 11.6 | 6 | 51.4% |
| 2020 | Jerry Jeudy | 113 | 52 | 856 | 16.5 | 3 | 46.0% |
| 2020 | A.J. Green | 104 | 47 | 523 | 11.1 | 2 | 45.2% |
If Trevor Lawrence hits quickly, and he might, one or both of these wide receivers could be very good this year. I think I'm a little more likely to select Jones.
--Andy Richardson