Next Man Up? Jacksonville's Brian Thomas Jr. Could Be Another WR Option For Chiefs

When characterizing trades in any sport, the "change of scenery" deal is one of the most popular tropes.

As the NFL's Nov. 10 trade deadline rapidly approaches - 24 days away as of Saturday - if the Kansas City Chiefs do intend to secure an upgrade to their wide receiver room with Tyquan Thornton sidelined and Xavier Worthy still looking for his best form, they may have to decide if the scenery in western Missouri is preferable to northern Florida for a certain wideout.

That would be Brian Thomas Jr., the third-year wideout who  plays - or, to be more accurate, hasn't played very much lately - for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Thomas, who turned 24 on Oct. 8, burst onto the scene like a supernova after being the 23rd pick of the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. In his rookie year, he recorded 87 catches for 1,282 yards with 10 touchdowns. That earned him a Pro Bowl selection and a fourth-place finish in the Offensive Rookie of the Year voting.

Then, somewhat surprisingly, Thomas' numbers in 2025 fell by nearly half when compared to 2024 in receptions (48) and yards (707), while his touchdown catches slid 80% to two.

All indications in training camp were that Thomas was on track for a turnaround, to the point that head coach Liam Coen publicly praised him for the improvements he had made.

Then the 2026 season began.

Thomas posted identical scoreless 3-catch, 40-yard efforts in Weeks 1 and 2 before hauling in one pass for eight yards in a Week 3 game in which the Jaguars ran rings around the New England Patriots in a 35-6 laugher. Thomas did score in Week 4's defeat of the Cincinnati Bengals but had just two catches for 17 yards.

Then came the indignity of a three-target, 0-catch, 0-yard "performance" in London against the Philadelphia Eagles.

For those keeping score at home, through five games Thomas has nine catches for 105 yards with one TD, which sounds like it could be a typical first-half line for someone like the Seattle Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

So, Thomas surely has to be available if a team brought his name up in trade talks, right?

Writing in The Athletic on Oct. 17, Jonathan Jones isn't so sure.

"The Jaguars have not indicated they will part with their 2024 first-round pick, even after he caught zero passes for zero yards in last week’s win against the Eagles," wrote Jones. "Thomas has three catches for 25 yards in his past three games combined. But Jacksonville does not have him on the trade block."

But the writing has to be somewhere close to being on the wall. When the Arizona Cardinals unloaded Marvin Harrison Jr. - the No. 4 pick in the 2024 draft - to the Houston Texans on Oct. 10 for a second-round pick, that may have perked up the ears of the Jaguars' front office as Thomas has 36 more catches and 536 more yards in his career than Harrison, so could they also garner a second-round pick for Thomas?

Other options like signing free-agent Tyreek Hill or trading for the Cleveland Browns' Jerry Jeudy are beginning to look increasingly less likely because of Hill's off-field issues and, similar to Thomas, Jeudy's recent underperformance since a strong 2024 season. Second-year man Jalen Royals could be an in-house option, but would the Chiefs be willing to hand an expanded role to a player who has five career receptions for 21 yards in 11 games played?

It just seems that if push comes to shove, the Chiefs have to at least do their due diligence on someone like Thomas.

While Kansas City might not want to trade their 2027 second-round pick for Thomas, they do currently have a pair of 2027 selections in the third and fifth rounds that they could use to tempt the Jaguars to send him to western Missouri.