JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The catalyst for the Jaguars’ midseason turnaround truly was the team’s growth at receiver and the addition of Jakobi Meyers. Drops had been a problem that plagued the team and Trevor Lawrence for years and the start to 2025 was no different.
The team still finished the season with a lead-leaguing 39 drops, according to Pro Football Focus, but just 14 of those came after the addition of Jakobi Meyers in Week 11. Certainly not great, but far better than the 25 through the first nine games.
Jakobi Meyers arrived and instantly provided stability, which is exactly what the Jaguars hoped for after injuries and disappointment from Brian Thomas Jr and Dyami Brown. The offense seemed to flip a switch instantaneously as did Parker Washington in his new role as the team’s starting slot receiver.
Still one problem continues to plague the Jaguars’ receivers, the ability to separate. As with everything, they certainly got better over the second half of the season and Liam Coen’s picture-esque play designs helped the cause, however, by just about every metric, the Jaguars struggled to get open.
According to GPS tracking data provided by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, the Jaguars ranked 29th with an average targeted separation of just 3.2 yards. Truthfully, even that is a bit overscored as none of the Jaguars starting receivers averaged more than 2.7 yards.
Of the Top-77 receivers, Jakobi Meyers ranked 46th, Brian Thomas Jr ranked 54th, and Parker Washington finished 63rd in average separation when targeted. There’s obviously a lot more to the position than just getting open as Washington was eighth in the NFL with +106 yards after the catch over expectation.
Data from ESPN and Fantasy Points tend to back up the GPS tracking numbers from Next Gen Stats. ESPN’s “Open” score, graded on a scale from 0-100, spotted the Jaguars’ trio (Meyers, Washington, Thomas Jr) 58th, 63rd, and 90th among the league’s Top-110 receivers.
It was very similar when referencing Fantasy Point’s “Route Win %.” Among the Top-84 receivers, Thomas Jr placed 52nd (10.6%), Washington 55th (10.2%), and Meyers 58th (9.8%).
Washington and Meyers have never been known as elite separators and these numbers are more or less in line with their careers, however, 2025 was a major step back for Thomas Jr.
In 2024, Thomas was one of the league’s best separators, leading the NFL in ‘Route Win %’ on slants, third on ‘post’ routes, and eighth on ‘go’ routes. Somehow, someway, Thomas wasn’t credited with a single won route on a slant this season.
His other numbers were similarly far more impressive in 2024 with an ‘Open’ score of 64, placing him 29th among the Top-116 receivers. He was credited by GPS tracking with an average separation of 3.0 yards, far better than the 2.7 yards in 2025. That one foot might not seem like a lot, but it’s the difference between 54th and 37th.
If Thomas can regain his seemingly lost confidence, fix the drops, and return to his elite separator status, the Jaguars’ pass attack could be and should be even scarier next season. An elite separator was the one thing this receiving corps lacked in 2025.
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