Brian Thomas Jr. is a major bright spot for the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars

• Thomas is shining amid the Jaguars' 0-4 start: He ranks in the top five in most categories among rookie wide receivers, including PFF receiving grade and receiving yards.

• An expanded route tree has unlocked Thomas' ability: The LSU product largely ran hitches and go routes in college, and now he's diversifying his route tree in the NFL.

• Unlock your edge with a PFF+ subscription: Get full access to all our in-season fantasy tools, including weekly rankings, WR/CB matchup charts, weekly projections, the Start-Sit Optimizer and more. Sign up now!

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Amid hopes of competing for an AFC South title, and perhaps more heading into the year, the Jacksonville Jaguars are off to an abysmal start in 2024. They’re 0-4, their offense has scored the third-fewest points in the NFL, their defense has allowed the third-most points and two of their four losses are against teams that haven’t beaten anybody else.

Yet, rookie first-round wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. has been one of the few bright spots.

Thomas was a dominant force at LSU. Despite teammate Malik Nabers receiving more of the shine, Thomas was incredible in his own right. He caught 68 of his 87 targets for 1,177 yards and a Division I-leading 17 touchdown receptions in 13 games (FCS receivers included). Thomas possesses ideal size at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds while also having great speed after running a 4.33-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, which made him a tantalizing prospect from a physical standpoint.

Brian Thomas Jr.'s LSU Career | 2021-2023

A big concern with Thomas was his lack of a route tree at LSU. He ran 418 routes in 2023, and 179 of them (42.8%) of them were either hitches or gos, routes that don’t ask a receiver to do much more than run in a straight line. In fact, 728 of his 1,177 receiving yards (61.8%) came off those two routes, though he did post an 82.2 PFF receiving grade off of them.

Thomas’ potential was too good to pass up, though, as the Jaguars made him the 23rd selection in the 2024 NFL Draft and the fourth receiver selected overall. Through four weeks, that faith in him has paid off.

Thomas ranks highly among the other 2024 rookie receivers, as we can see below.

Despite Thomas ranking fourth in yards per route run, two of the players ahead of him — Malachi Corley and Jermaine Burton — have a combined 16 receiving snaps between them this season (Thomas has 122). Also interesting is that Nabers, Thomas’ college teammate, is ahead of him in every single category, sometimes by very wide margins (including more than twice as many catches and over 100 more receiving yards).

Thomas’ route tree has expanded more in the NFL compared to his LSU days. On 115 routes, Thomas has run 32 hitches and gos, a 27.8% rate that’s much closer to a normal route tree. Through four weeks (excluding Week 5’s Thursday Night Football game), PFF has charted 12,700 routes from receivers, 3,573 of which were hitches or gos — a 28.1% rate that puts Thomas right around the league average. Seventy-six of Thomas’ 275 receiving yards have come on hitches and gos this season, a 27.6% clip that almost matches his route rate.

This expansion of his route tree has made Thomas much more unpredictable for defenses, and based on his early-season performance, he’s been able to adjust to the change nicely, which will create more headaches for any cornerback trying to guard him. While the Jaguars have struggled to put points on the board this season, Thomas has certainly not been the issue. If the team can right the ship, expect their breakout rookie to be a major part of it.