Julius Thomas played 50 snaps in his first 2 seasons in the league, catching 1 pass, after the incredibly athletic former basketball player was drafted in the 4th round in 2011. He broke out in 2013, catching 65 passes for 788 yards and 12 touchdowns, but he was limited by injuries in 2014, catching 43 passes for 489 yards and 12 touchdowns in 13 games. Thomas is a poor run blocker, has never played all 16 games in a season, and a lot of his passing game production was the result of getting to play with Peyton Manning.

I pegged him as a candidate to be overpaid on the open market this off-season and, sure enough, he was, as the Jaguars gave him 46 million over 5 years with 24 million guaranteed. This makes him the 2nd highest paid tight end in the NFL behind Jimmy Graham, who, by the way, got traded earlier this week. I understand the Jaguars needed to add talent this off-season and had a lot of cap room to work with, but this is definitely an overpay and one that they could easily live to regret down the line. Thomas won’t be nearly as productive with Blake Bortles as he was with Peyton Manning.

Grade: C-

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