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TRADE BTJ?!? (No) · Duval Daily: A Jacksonville Jaguars Podcast

0:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Jacksonville Jack Wars fans, welcome in to do Vault Daily, presented by Genjag.com.
0:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Jordan Illuga, thanks so much for being here.
0:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Tuesday, February 17th, right now, we're talking about a recent article over from ESPN, 11 trades that we want to see this off-season.
0:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Barnwell finds new homes for 15 players by Bill.
0:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Barnwell, who, you know, he's had some interesting ideas over the years.
0:29
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no question about that.
0:32
[SPEAKER_00]: We're focused on his idea for the jag wars here on this one, but he has the jet's trading for Kyler Murray.
0:38
[SPEAKER_00]: He has, and these are not really predictions.
0:41
[SPEAKER_00]: They're just like things he would like to see happen.
0:44
[SPEAKER_00]: The bear is getting Max Krosby for DJ Moore.
0:49
[SPEAKER_00]: the Browns trading for Walker Little.
0:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
0:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Jaguars get a 2026 fifth round pick and exchange for Walker Little in a 2027 seventh round pick.
1:06
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll talk about that one too.
1:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Probably later.
1:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think that both of these are worth talking about, you know, as a whole.
1:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, the big one here is Brian Thomas Jr. to the Buffalo Bills.
1:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
1:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, big one.
1:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're gonna talk about that here today.
1:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Really appreciate y'all tuning in.
1:27
[SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content, please like and subscribe.
1:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Now let's check out Jimjag.com pick up some new dooval gear, help support the channel look good while doing it.
1:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's got a link the right up on this trade.
1:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Bill Barnwell, VSPN says after the bill's beat the jackwares in the wild card round, I laid out an argument for why Jacksonville will consider a trade for Thomas.
1:48
[SPEAKER_00]: If the organization is still committed to giving Travis Hunter a two-way roll, it's why to see a room would be very crowded.
1:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Jacobi Myers signed an extension after impressing.
1:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And half a year with the Jags in Park, Washington was the team's best wide-out down the stretch into the postseason.
2:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Thomas, on the other hand, never really seemed comfortable in Cohen's offense after a massive fricking campaign.
2:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Thomas didn't have a single 100-yard game a year or two and topped 70 receiving yards three times.
2:11
[SPEAKER_00]: There were drops and perhaps overstated concerns about Thomas unwillingness to make catches in tight space.
2:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Those concerns early in the season were not overstated.
2:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, were you watching the fricking game?
2:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Bottom line, the production wasn't there and things didn't get better as the season went along.
2:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Thomas had just two catches for 21 yards and the Jags playoff loss to Buffalo, the one was for a touchdown.
2:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The Jags also don't have their first round pick in 2026 after trading it to the Browns as part of the 100 deal leaving Gladstone with Limited Drive Capital.
2:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Limited Drive Capital, really?
2:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the guy currently has four picks in the top 124.
2:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you kidding me?
2:51
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
2:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Five picks in the top 124.
2:55
[SPEAKER_00]: The jackwares have four day two picks and pick 124.
2:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I mean, is that limited draft capital?
3:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
3:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And we know James Ladsson is very comfortable with the F-M-Pix model of general managing.
3:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Thomas would be their most realistic way to get that missing first round or back.
3:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Getting the pick back just for the sake of it doesn't mean much, but if the Jags don't see Thomas's a focal point of their offense, the best time to make a move would be now.
3:22
[SPEAKER_00]: The Jaguars might stick with Thomas and expect more from him in 2026.
3:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Jacksonville could use Hunter as a full-time quarterback and part-time receiver in 2026.
3:35
[SPEAKER_00]: They have said as much, it has been reported that that's going to be the case, that is the case, okay?
3:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So yes, that's where we're at, which would likely mean that Cohen would call on Thomas, Washington, and Myers as the team's top three years he was an 11-person L. A team that was very much interested in running 11-person L last year, Jacksonville, Jaguars.
3:55
[SPEAKER_00]: At the same time though,
3:56
[SPEAKER_00]: A part-time role for Hunter might still limit Thomas's production.
4:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember that Hunter missed the final 10 games of the regular season and the playoff loss because of a knee injury.
4:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Thomas averaged just 44 receiving Arts per game once Hunter went down, a 748 yard pace over a full season, he missed 3 games because of an ankle injury.
4:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Even a handful of snapped per game, 400 would be more competition than Thomas had during the second half of 2025, and Thomas wasn't productive over that span.
4:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see that much overlap in what they would be asked to do right now.
4:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know that Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas Jr. couldn't be on the field together, but you know, whatever.
4:37
[SPEAKER_00]: He continues the bills on the other hand, desperately need an X receiver who can separate from man coverage and make plays at all three levels, Coleman.
4:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I didn't give you all this.
4:48
[SPEAKER_00]: The trade is wide receiver Brian Thomas, Jr. And a 2026 fifth round pick from the Jaguars, two the bills.
4:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And the Jaguars getting wide receiver key on Coleman and a 2026 first round pick.
5:00
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so the bills on the other hand does really need their extra silver above the block.
5:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Coleman might have become, might have become that player for them, but after ownership badmouth the 2024 second round pick and a news conference, it's tough to believe.
5:14
[SPEAKER_00]: that he has a long-term future in Buffalo.
5:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Thomas would immediately step in as Josh Allen's number one receiver for a team that's $10 million over the projected cap before making adjustments to this offseason.
5:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Thomas's contract is a bargain for the next few years, he'll make $2.1 million in 2026 and $2.8 million in 2027.
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[SPEAKER_00]: before a potential fifth year option in 28, affording the bill's multiple seasons of cost control.
5:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if Thomas only settles in somewhere between his 2024 and 2025 form, he would offer significant surplus value.
5:43
[SPEAKER_00]: The jacks could use that first round pick, number 26 after this deal, to add cost control talent or go after.
5:49
[SPEAKER_00]: young talent via trades.
5:51
[SPEAKER_00]: They would be taking a flyer on Coleman who is only a 3.8 million combined over the next two season.
5:56
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not a big cost savings over Thomas.
5:59
[SPEAKER_00]: When you factor in the first round, pick the jacks would be upgrading another position while slot in Coleman in as their wide receiver.
6:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Four.
6:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
6:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that would be an absolute bombshell.
6:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
6:10
[SPEAKER_00]: No question about it.
6:12
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be a bombshell.
6:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Huge trade.
6:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And we know that
6:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, James Gladstone is not going to be afraid to make big trades.
6:22
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that, um, the, the more distance we get away from what happened in the beginning of the year with Brian Thomas Jr.
6:34
[SPEAKER_00]: The more I think about what he was after he came back from his injury.
6:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I just, I don't see it.
6:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It'd be probably a different story right now if you're telling me the Jaguar is could trade Brian Thomas Jr. for a top 15 pick, top 10 pick, I might have a lot more interest in that.
7:01
[SPEAKER_00]: But for me, BTJ, it's not just about his production here in Jacksonville, like the thing that
7:08
[SPEAKER_00]: That Barnwell talks about, you know, he's a cost-controlled player for the bills if they trade for him.
7:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he's a cost-controlled player for the Jag Wars.
7:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's a former first round pick.
7:17
[SPEAKER_00]: The Jag Wars have him under contract for 2026, 2027, and they can pick up the 50 or option for 2028 if they want to as well.
7:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they have him on a cost-controlled deal through 2028.
7:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel whatever was going on with Brian Thomas Jr. early on in the 2025 season, it looked much better from an effort standpoint for him following his return from injury.
7:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
7:47
[SPEAKER_00]: It just did.
7:48
[SPEAKER_00]: It looked better.
7:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And even if you're not even talking about his targets,
7:58
[SPEAKER_00]: The sheer attention that he commands from opposing defenses.
8:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, every time the Jack Wars were stepping out on that field, for the most part, B.T.J.
8:10
[SPEAKER_00]: was drawing the opposing CB1.
8:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And what does that do?
8:14
[SPEAKER_00]: It opens up the field for everyone else.
8:17
[SPEAKER_00]: It opens up the field for Jacobi Myers, for Parker Washington, for the running game, for Britain's strange.
8:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that they should continue to try to work on it
8:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they understand him better now.
8:31
[SPEAKER_00]: They will have a better off-season plan, because they're off-season plan last year with BTJ, it was to feature him as a wide receiver one, like all over the field.
8:41
[SPEAKER_00]: That plan went to crap, very early on in the season.
8:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And now they actually have a full year under their belt of working with the guy, understanding what he's good at, understanding what makes him tick.
8:59
[SPEAKER_00]: They can use him as that vertical extracever.
9:02
[SPEAKER_00]: That's his talent.
9:03
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what he should be.
9:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And to me, if you get rid of that, you have to replace it, like immediately.
9:15
[SPEAKER_00]: If you let Brian Thomas Jr. go, you have to replace that vertical element in your passing offense before the 2026 season.
9:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe part of that is Travis Hunter.
9:28
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, he's going to be a full-time corner in a part-time receiver.
9:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just, I think that there's a, in this world, where the Jaguar is trade brand, Thomas Jr. to the bills, or anyone.
9:44
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a real chance that if they don't replace that vertical speed, this offense stalls out a little bit in year two.
9:57
[SPEAKER_00]: There's this argument like, you know, a new GM did not draft Brian Thomas Jr., right?
10:03
[SPEAKER_00]: James Ladsson did not draft Brian Thomas Jr. You know, could he be enticed by getting a first round pick for RETUJ?
10:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I think so.
10:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And as far as the key on Coleman part of it, if the Jaguar doesn't like him, they don't have to keep him around really.
10:22
[SPEAKER_00]: That part doesn't really bother me.
10:24
[SPEAKER_00]: The fifth round pick doesn't bother me.
10:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I like getting a first round pick back 26 overall Pretty much close to a second round pick and all reality, but I Just I think that the best possible outcome for the brand-time is junior situation like the 99th percentile outcome is the Jaguar sticking with him and Allowing him to develop and and just having faith in him and
10:48
[SPEAKER_00]: that could lead you to potentially having, at the very least, one of the most explosive and threatening deep receivers in football.
10:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's what they should do personally.
11:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I really do, I think again, after he came back from his injury, week 13, I believe it was, he wasn't like the most productive guy out there, right?
11:10
[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't getting tons of targets, but he helped the offense open up even more.
11:15
[SPEAKER_00]: He did.
11:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that he can continue to do that.
11:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that again, with a full off season, with the right plan, with the right coaching, which they figured out, I think, how to get more out of him from an effort standpoint and all that stuff throughout the season, that's what I would do because you lose that vertical speed and everything tightens up on you.
11:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything tightens up on your offense.
11:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Teams can, without BTJ, I think Teams can play you a lot more aggressively on your underneath an intermediate passing game.
11:55
[SPEAKER_00]: With him, they've just got to respect that deep speed.
11:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So I wouldn't be in on it, but yeah, is it possible that Gladstone says, look, BTJ, he's not a perfect fit for what we want to do, he's just not.
12:12
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't really have that energy that effort about him, that physicality to his game that we look for in our players.
12:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And if I trade him for a first round pick, I can go find that in the first round.
12:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I can go find God, and let's be fair.
12:30
[SPEAKER_00]: If they traded him for a first round pick, they would then be slated to have six picks in the top 124.
12:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, they could use that first rounder to get very aggressive for a veteran free agent potential.
12:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, veteran player that they could trade for, potentially, like they could do a lot of things with that.
12:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So I would understand James Gladstone's mindset.
12:57
[SPEAKER_00]: If he's like, yeah, I'll take a first round pick and I'll turn that into somebody who fits us, fits what we want a little bit more.
13:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I could see that happening.
13:08
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, you have to replace that vertical speed without question.
13:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to.
13:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you do that, and you land a player who teams don't respect as much, again, the offense I think can kind of hit a ceiling, a plateau, can regress a little bit without Brian Thomas Jr.'s deep threat.
13:36
[SPEAKER_00]: As far as trading them to the bills, I saw some people like no hell no we're not trading with the bills They beat us in the playoffs to me.
13:42
[SPEAKER_00]: That's scared money.
13:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I don't care if if the trade makes sense to me I'm doing it And that's to got nothing to do with this specific trade.
13:52
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just like if I'm making a trade because I think it's making our football team better I don't really care who it's with
13:59
[SPEAKER_00]: If I'm making it trade because I think it gives me the ammunition to make our football team better.
14:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care who's doing it, like I just don't.
14:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that that's playing scared.
14:11
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, overall, I would like to see Brian Thomas Jr. back in Jacksonville.
14:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I would like to see Jacobi Parker, BTJ, sprinkling in Travis Hunter.
14:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Britain strange and I mean, I've talked about I want to see the Jaguars add another tie-dend who can really compliment Britain strange who can really play I Love Johnny Martin.
14:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know long and Quentin Morris.
14:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking about a real starting caliber tie-dend That's what I would love to see Somebody who can blocking and catch passes for them But
14:50
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to see what the Jaguars end up doing.
14:51
[SPEAKER_00]: We're inching closer and closer to the combine, to free agency, all that good stuff.
14:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Stick with us here.
15:00
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll have you covered every step of the way.
15:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Really appreciate y'all tuning in.
15:03
[SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy the content, please like and subscribe.
15:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all have a good one.