It's been a rough year for 2-7 Jacksonville, which has managed to lose five games by five points or less. But they sure picked a nice wide receiver out of the first round of the draft in Brian Thomas.
It's a good week to talk about Thomas, with Jacksonville at home against the Vikings this week. Great though Minnesota's defense has been (especially in fantasy terms), only three teams have allowed more passing yards (273 per week) and only four have allowed more touchdowns to wide receivers (10).
Thomas sometimes doesn't see enough looks; he's averaging just under 4 catches per week. But he's scored in four of six and gone over 85 yards in three of those. Definitely a week and a matchup where he should be over his season averages (Minnesota mostly allows production through the air; they're 2nd against the run).
A particularly good metric for Thomas this season is yards per target. He's averaging 11.2 yards on the 53 passes thrown his way. The only guy better than him in that regard this season, among all pass catchers with at least 50 targets, is probably the league's best wideout, Justin Jefferson.
WRS YARDS PER TARGET (MINIMUM 50 TGTS) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | Y/Tgt |
Justin Jefferson | 69 | 48 | 783 | 16.3 | 5 | 11.3 |
Brian Thomas | 53 | 35 | 595 | 17 | 5 | 11.2 |
Ja'Marr Chase | 70 | 55 | 717 | 13 | 7 | 10.2 |
Terry McLaurin | 60 | 42 | 598 | 14.2 | 6 | 10.0 |
Zay Flowers | 67 | 46 | 654 | 14.2 | 3 | 9.8 |
George Pickens | 58 | 35 | 548 | 15.7 | 1 | 9.4 |
Darius Slayton | 50 | 32 | 469 | 14.7 | 1 | 9.4 |
Chris Godwin | 62 | 50 | 576 | 11.5 | 5 | 9.3 |
D.K. Metcalf | 61 | 35 | 568 | 16.2 | 3 | 9.3 |
Darnell Mooney | 68 | 41 | 588 | 14.3 | 5 | 8.6 |
Tyler Lockett | 53 | 34 | 456 | 13.4 | 2 | 8.6 |
Ladd McConkey | 52 | 35 | 440 | 12.6 | 4 | 8.5 |
Marvin Harrison Jr. | 55 | 28 | 445 | 15.9 | 5 | 8.1 |
Trey McBride | 60 | 45 | 481 | 10.7 | 0 | 8.0 |
Tyreek Hill | 56 | 34 | 446 | 13.1 | 1 | 8.0 |
Jakobi Meyers | 54 | 39 | 430 | 11 | 2 | 8.0 |
CeeDee Lamb | 84 | 53 | 660 | 12.5 | 4 | 7.9 |
Brock Bowers | 73 | 57 | 580 | 10.2 | 2 | 7.9 |
Drake London | 70 | 50 | 552 | 11 | 6 | 7.9 |
Amon-Ra St. Brown | 59 | 48 | 464 | 9.7 | 6 | 7.9 |
Stefon Diggs | 64 | 47 | 496 | 10.6 | 3 | 7.8 |
Hunter Henry | 53 | 39 | 414 | 10.6 | 1 | 7.8 |
Jaxon Smith-Njigba | 75 | 50 | 568 | 11.4 | 3 | 7.6 |
Courtland Sutton | 68 | 36 | 499 | 13.9 | 2 | 7.3 |
Josh Downs | 56 | 38 | 411 | 10.8 | 3 | 7.3 |
Davante Adams | 53 | 32 | 384 | 12 | 2 | 7.2 |
Garrett Wilson | 94 | 60 | 663 | 11.1 | 5 | 7.1 |
Jerry Jeudy | 61 | 33 | 418 | 12.7 | 1 | 6.9 |
Travis Kelce | 64 | 52 | 435 | 8.4 | 1 | 6.8 |
Cade Otton | 62 | 44 | 421 | 9.6 | 4 | 6.8 |
Calvin Ridley | 59 | 27 | 399 | 14.8 | 1 | 6.8 |
Malik Nabers | 84 | 55 | 557 | 10.1 | 3 | 6.6 |
Breece Hall | 50 | 35 | 327 | 9.3 | 1 | 6.5 |
Michael Pittman Jr. | 57 | 30 | 366 | 12.2 | 2 | 6.4 |
Jake Ferguson | 52 | 38 | 334 | 8.8 | 0 | 6.4 |
D.J. Moore | 60 | 37 | 374 | 10.1 | 3 | 6.2 |
Diontae Johnson | 58 | 30 | 357 | 11.9 | 3 | 6.2 |
Dalton Kincaid | 54 | 32 | 332 | 10.4 | 2 | 6.1 |
Alvin Kamara | 63 | 46 | 367 | 8 | 1 | 5.8 |
Amari Cooper | 60 | 29 | 319 | 11 | 3 | 5.3 |
Elijah Moore | 50 | 33 | 249 | 7.5 | 0 | 5.0 |
Wan'Dale Robinson | 76 | 51 | 343 | 6.7 | 2 | 4.5 |
--Andy Richardson