A few days before the Jacksonville Jaguars kicked off their preseason against the Kansas City Chiefs, something big happened in an everyday training camp practice. Something that could help determine how fast of a start the Jaguars get off to.

It was first-round draft pick Brian Thomas, lining up outside against veteran cornerback Ronald Darby. To this point in camp, the No. 23 pick had not made many standout plays, and Darby in particular was having success against him in practice.

This time, though, things went different. Thomas ran a vertical route and got deep separation against the starting cornerback. Trevor Lawrence found Thomas deep, with Thomas at first bobbling the catch before bringing it into his frame against Darby’s best efforts.

It was the electric, dynamic, and athletic kind of play that the Jaguars have missed at receiver in recent years. And it was that play that star Jaguars receiver Christian Kirk believes helped spark something in the Jaguars’ first round pick.

“I think it’s huge. You said it, I think as the practices went on, his confidence grew and it usually just takes one play. I forget what day it was, but I remember him catching a deep ball in practice and that was kind of the one that clicked for him, I think it was going into Kansas City,” Kirk said on Monday. “

Going into Kansas City, the first target he gets he doesn’t make but it comes back to him and makes a big-time play on the sideline, and I know the talk of the town has been all of our emotion for him once he made that catch. That’s huge for a young player,” Kirk said.

A few days later, Thomas made himself a preseason star and found himself on SportsCenter’s top-10 after a one-handed 41-yard catch against the Chiefs. Since then, Thomas has made big plays throughout camp, joint practices, and the other two remaining preseason games.

“Even though being a first-round draft pick and all the success he had in college, once you get to this level, there still needs to be some point of validation, like, ‘Okay, I can do it at this level.’ I know I went through it too and I know a lot of rookies do, you just need that one play. Like, ‘Okay, I can do it at a high level with these guys.’ BT is just going to keep on getting better the more plays he makes like that, especially in the regular season. So, like I said, just really excited to watch him get out there on Sunday and grow.”

The Jaguars traded back from No. 17 to No. 23 before taking Thomas, making him the fourth receiver off the board and starting a receiver run through the final 10 picks of the first round.

Thomas caught 28 passes for 359 yards and two touchdowns for LSU in 2021. In 2022, he caught 31 passes for 361 yards and five touchdowns. He then exploded in 2023, catching 68 passes for 1,177 yards and 17 touchdowns.

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