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BTJ TRADE RUMORS WON'T GO AWAY · Duval Daily: A Jacksonville Jaguars Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jacksonville, Jaguar, as fans welcome in to Duval, Daily Prisoner by Jinjak.com.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Jordan Deluga, thanks so much for being here Monday, April 6th.
• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right now we're talking about more Brian Thomas Jr. kind of trade rumors, speculation, etc.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about this quite a bit since the trade deadline last year.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: We all know the Brian Thomas Jr's situation.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you're a Jaguarist fan, if you follow the NFL closely, you know what's happened.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Unbelievable rookie year, truly unbelievable.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Looks like he was poised to be one of the top receivers in football, has all the talent, all the skill in the world, great size, great athleticism, unbelievable speed, a deep threat, who also showed the ability to do a lot more than that during his rookie year, comes into year two, gets off to a bit of a slow start
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Training camp, that carries over into the regular season, dealing with some injuries, some inconsistent play, some kind of confidence and effort issues at times, goes down with injury, misses a little bit of time, comes back, plays a little bit better down the stretch in a more specific role of an outside vertical threat receiver.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: think that a lot kind of contributed to him playing better.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Jaguar is figuring out how to utilize him in the ecosystem of their offense last year to Kobe Myers getting back, Britain strange getting back, Trevor Lawrence getting more confident in the offense and more comfortable in the offense.
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of different things come in together.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, the Jaguar stop force feeding BTJ the ball.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: But that has not stopped rampant speculation this off season about, and you know, going back to the trade that deadline as well, about BTJ potentially getting traded, I think, you know, five, 10 years ago, it would be fun for a lot of Jaguars fans just to have a player's name to mention in the national media as much as BTJ has been mentioned, but at this point, I think most Jags fans
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: really would like this storyline to go away.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not going away because of the media and the latest reason or, you know, kind of, report, rumor, whatever that has come up.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: From Mike Sandow of the Athletic is why there's kind of this new batch and new wave of BTJ trade speculation So we're gonna dive into it.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Really appreciate y'all tuning in.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content here Please like and subscribe you can also check out Jinjag.com pick up some new dov all gear like that I'm wearing right now
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: up support the channel look good while doing it.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can also hit that high button helps out a ton.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: So this is there was an article done on the athletic by Mike Sando where he talked to different NFL executives on kind of what's happened so far in free agency in the off season.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And this is what an executive had to say about BTJ.
• 3:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: quote, the Brian Thomas Jr. situation is interesting another exec said it's smart to hold on to him.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's too young to give up on that early.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I could see him being moved on draft day if people's favorite receivers get picked.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like the scenario there is let's say a team that's needy for a wide receiver one or just a really talented wide receiver and their favorite receiver gets picked.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they pick up the phone and call James Gladstone and say hey what can we do to make this happen?
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I get it, I get that for sure, but everything the Jaguars have said.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Going back to the Trade Deadline last year, right after the Trade Deadline, there was speculation about BTJ being traded after the season ended in January, February, and everything that Liam Cohen and James Ladsdon have said has indicated that they're strongly invested in
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: having Brian Thomas Jr. as a big part of their passing game moving forward.
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: They don't really have a big interest in shaking things up.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And quite frankly, I don't think they should.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think they should have a big interest in shaking things up because when the Jack Wars passing game got rolling last year, it was as good as any in football.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: It really was.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: They were
• 4:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: lighting it up through the air, whether they were playing the Broncos, I mean, they did great things against the bills, despite having a few mistakes, they really did pass the ball well and it makes them big plays down the field, but the bills obviously in that game they kind of just sold out to stop the pass and the Jaguar should have turned to the run a little bit more, but still, I mean, you're heavily invested in Jacobi Mars, right?
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: You gave him a new deal during the season last year.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, heavily invested in Trevor Lawrence.
• 5:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that Parker Washington, a new contract, is probably going to be coming down the pike for Parker Washington this off season.
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I had to guess, I think they would lock him up.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about that.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: What does BTJ do for those guys for the entire offense?
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: The opposing number one corner back usually, almost always covers Brian Thomas Jr.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: So just that in and of itself, taking away the opposing number one corner back.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: If that's all Brian Thomas Jr. does, that's extremely valuable right there by itself.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: But beyond that,
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think you do want to try to figure out how do you get closer to what you saw from him in 2024 than what you got from him in 2025 and I think, again, part of that was figured out a little bit down the stretch in 2025 after he got injured and came back around week 13.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: His efficiency, his yards per catch, yards per target, all of those numbers just went up significantly.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: his drops went down significantly.
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: His effort was better significantly.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think if you can build up that confidence this off season, he can be a big time outside vertical threat for you.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Plus, right?
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you still have, like, he's only been in league two years.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: You still have 2026, 2027, 2028.
• 6:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like his fifth year option is 2028.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: You have all that cost-controlled time with BTJ who, look, I don't care who you're talking about in this year's draft.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: At wide receiver, there is not a player as talented, physically, as Brian Thomas Jr. Maybe there are better fits.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there are guys who are just more natural in terms of catching the football.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, but there's not another player that's 6-foot-3 over 200 pounds that runs at 4-3 that has the ability one thing that he's shown.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: His ability to get off the line of scrimmage.
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: against press and in general has been better than I expected on the outside in the NFL.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's something I thought he had to prove and I think he proved it like immediately.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Again, the hands were much better towards the end of last year.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's all there in my opinion for the Jaguar's passing offense to be awesome and for BTJ to be a big part of that.
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: and 2026.
• 8:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, for those of you who are interested in potential trades, another article from Bleacher Report, kind of from Gary Davenport, spinning off of or riffing from the Mike Sando, you know, report, had like six, five or six different trade.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: options for the Jaguars, and I decided, obviously, I'm on the side of, I think the Jaguars should keep B2J.
• 8:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that, I think that's what they should do.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: But if the Jaguars internally are like, hey, if we can get multiple picks, including a first rounder, which we don't have right now in 2026, because we traded up for Travis Hunter, maybe we should entertain that.
• 8:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that might be the case.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: You never know.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: But we've got some different trade scenarios here.
• 8:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we've got one.
• 8:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: The New York Jets receive BTJ and a 2026 third round pick, pick number 100.
• 9:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Jaguar's final pick of day two.
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the Jaguar's receive a 2026 first round pick, pick number 16, a 2026 fifth round pick, pick number 159, and a 2027 second round pick.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's quite a draft hall for BTJ,
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: One thing to keep in mind if the Jaguars were trading with the Jets, the 2027 second round pick, unless you foresee the Jets becoming a really good team overnight, is probably going to be a pretty early second round pick.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the 2026 third round pick for you that you're sending to the Jets is at the very end of the third round.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whereas that 2027 second round pick is probably going to be pretty high up in the second round.
• 9:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just something to consider there obviously the jets you're not viewing as like an immediate threat type of team within the AFC.
• 10:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: probably wouldn't want to do this.
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I value B.T.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: J. Skillset.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I value the way he kind of battled back last year after having a lot of adversity and injury and contributed down the stretch.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Next up is the Cleveland Browns, which this is a hilarious trade proposal.
• 10:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because the Cleveland Browns, they get B.T.
• 10:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: J.
• 10:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Jaguars get 26 round pick, round one pick,
• 10:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know where the rounds got that pick, right?
• 10:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jacksonville Jaguars.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then the Jaguars also get pick 107 and the fourth round.
• 10:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: So 24 and 107 for BTJ, I don't love it.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't love it.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: One thing you can't say though is if the Jaguars are gonna trade Brian Thomas Jr.
• 10:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: They then do have a hole at wide.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: They already have a hole at the back end of wide receiver with the depth.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: But if they trade BTJ, then it's like, okay, is Travis Hunter going to play more corner as he kind of have to play a lot more wider receiver?
• 11:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: But you could also say, well, you can draft somebody that you feel like can maybe contribute more at wide receiver.
• 11:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if you were traded up into, like, I don't like this trade honestly as much as I like the jet's trade.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: But if you traded up to like 16, could you then find an impact defensive lineman?
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: could the Jaguars feel like that's a value that something that they just might not have the opportunity to do later on in the draft, which I think there's plenty of defensive linemen that can help you.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's not my opinion, but could it be James Gladstone's opinion, maybe.
• 11:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Next trade up is the Patriots, the Jaguars send BTJ in a 2026 fifth round pick number 166.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Jaguars also have pick 164 right before that, so I keep that in mind.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the Jaguars receive 2026,
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: 31st overall pick, 2026, 95th overall pick, 2026 pick, 131 overall.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't like that at all, really.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're talking about basically a second-round pick with that pick number 31.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the Patriots are, even though I think the Jaguars are a better team than the Patriots, and I think that there are several teams better than the Patriots and the FC, they are a contender.
• 12:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Washington Commanders, this is a straight up one.
• 12:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jaguar's in BTJ, Commander's in-back pick seven overall.
• 12:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, that is the one that kind of got my eyebrows raised a little bit more because it's like, is there a player that the jags are like, well,
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: For pick 7 overall, and instead of having this cost-controlled situation with BGJ through 28, if you took a 26-first round pick, your cost-controlled through 26-27-28-29-2030, right?
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I could understand if that's enticing.
• 13:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of players that could make a big impact.
• 13:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can understand if the Jaguars were enticed by that.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then we have the Buccaneers, which are the Bucks interested in making a trade with the Jaguars right now after what happened last year.
• 13:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, but the Bucks receive BTJ in a 26-fitth round pick, 164 overall.
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Jaguars receive pick number 15 and pick number 16.
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not horrible.
• 13:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would rather just get pick seven.
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then the final one here is with the Rams, which, of course, got to have the Rams in there.
• 13:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jackson Rams, always thinking about thinking about each other.
• 13:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: At least, I think the Jaguar is always thinking about the Rams, that's for sure.
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: BTJ to the Rams and a 2026 fourth round pick, number 124 overall, for the 13th pick this year, the 93rd pick, which is round three and a 2027 fourth.
• 14:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you're swapping fourths.
• 14:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: 2026, 4th for a 2027, 4th, and you're getting pick 13 and pick 93 this year for BTJ, that's a pretty good haul.
• 14:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Again, it all comes down to, in my mind, how do the Jaguars actually feel about Brian Thomas Jr. inside that building?
• 14:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do they?
• 14:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: feel like we have a real opportunity here to get a player back to tip top shape and back to close to an elite receiver or do they feel like keeping this guy mentally locked in and focused is just going to be too difficult for us.
• 14:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: His skill set is awesome, you know, but
• 14:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he's not like the dirty work, tough guy that the Jaguarists feel like they need.
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Again, this is all just hypothetical.
• 15:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: What they might be thinking inside the building.
• 15:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Based on what they've said, which, again, everything they generally say is pretty transparent.
• 15:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: They like Brian Thomas Jr., and they want to work with him.
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that's the right play.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Keeping BTJ and trying to get the best out of him.
• 15:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: and allowing him again to, at the very least, take attention away from your consistent Jacobi Myers, from your consistent Britain's strange, from another explosive player in Parker Washington, right?
• 15:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Taking attention away from the run game.
• 15:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's what I think.
• 15:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let me know what you think in the comment section below.
• 15:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content, please like and subscribe.
• 15:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Y'all have a good one.