“He’ll help open up the field a little bit,” Baalke said. “He’s certainly a younger receiver for [quarterback] Trevor [Lawrence] to build around, for the offense to build around. We’re just looking forward to getting him in here and getting our hands on him and going to work.”
Thomas not only is considered a big-time deep threat, many analysts considered him one of the draft’s best receivers making contested catches. Pederson said Thomas has “great size.”
“He’s big, he’s tall, has a really good route tree and can run all the routes,” Pederson said. “He can take the top off [secondaries].”
The Jaguars traded No. 17 overall to the Vikings for the No. 23 and No. 167 (Round 5) in the 2024 NFL Draft and third- and fourth-round selections in the ’25 draft
“I think around Pick 15, 16, we started getting some calls,” Baalke said. “The board looked good. We were in good shape with the needs we had and the players we had targeted. Taking a look at the teams that were between 17 and 23, what their needs were, we just felt the board was solid. It was well worth picking up three extra picks and really getting one of the players that we coveted it in the draft.”
Baalke said while the Jaguars explored trading up, perhaps for one of the players considered the draft’s top receivers, that “wasn’t an option.”
“We had a good beat on where those guys were going to go and they pretty much went where we felt they were going to go,” he said. “The price to move up into that territory would’ve been really steep. If one of them would’ve slipped a little further, maybe you’d do it, but we just didn’t feel they were going to get into our range and they didn’t get into our range.”
Baalke said there also were “other players involved” for the Jaguars at No. 17.
“We just felt the way the board looked and where the needs were, with the teams in between us, we felt we had a chance,” Baalke said. “There’s risk, there’s…
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