Over the past several months, the Jacksonville Jaguars have rebuffed the idea of trading wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr.

After a mesmerizing rookie season in 2024, BTJ had a miserable second year in 2025, bringing his long-term future with Jacksonville into question.

Speculation about the Jaguars trading him started around last season's trade deadline. It persisted throughout the offseason, with many predicting that Jacksonville would replace him by trading for former Philadelphia Eagles WR A.J. Brown.

That rumor also amounted to nothing, with Brown eventually being traded to the New England Patriots.

Through it all, the organization maintained that they were not trading Thomas and expressed confidence that he would return to the player we saw in 2024.

For his part, BTJ has been making the Jaguars' decision to keep him look like the right one. He has been one of Jacksonville's best players throughout OTAs and minicamp.

Yet, despite the overwhelming amount of evidence that Thomas will remain in Jacksonville, the Jaguars' receiver continues to surface in trade rumors.

PSFN just wrote a piece detailing five prominent NFL players who could be traded before the season begins. Thomas, of course, is on the list.

PSFN pointed to Jacksonville's loaded WR room as its argument for trading Thomas. With Jakobi Meyers, Parker Washington, and Travis Hunter, the belief is that the Jaguars' passing offense would be good enough without BTJ, and the team could use whatever draft picks it would receive to bolster other parts of the roster.

"Between Jakobi Meyers, Parker Washington, and Travis Hunter, the Jaguars already seem to have a plan in place for their wide receiver group. This same unit produced at an extremely high level last year under first-year head coach Liam Coen, and simply put, Brian Thomas Jr. wasn’t a focal piece of it.

"Then again, as he showcased during his rookie season, Thomas has all the tools a star wide receiver could possess. He’s a strong route runner, can win in all three areas of the field, has great run-after-the-catch ability, and, outside of a few crucial drops last season, has shown reliable hands.

"The Jaguars may struggle to help Thomas unlock his full potential. Dealing him away for an early Day 2 pick in the 2027 NFL Draft could be their best course of action, allowing him to develop elsewhere while running back the same core from 2025.

"Potential Landing Spots: Commanders, Raiders, Ravens"

While it's true that Jacksonville's WRs would be a strong group, even without Thomas, the article fails to acknowledge the Jaguars' intention of using Hunter primarily at cornerback in 2026, while only occasionally using him at receiver.

It also wouldn't make sense for a team with Super Bowl aspirations to trade one of its most talented players for draft compensation down the road. If the Jaguars wanted to trade BTJ, they had plenty of opportunity to do so and receive a return that could have helped the team this season.

Hopefully, all the trade chatter surrounding Thomas will die soon. If he can return to his 2024 level, BTJ will make the Jaguars very happy that they didn't give up on him after one poor season.

As the season approaches, it is clear that Jacksonville still views Thomas as a big part of the team's future.

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