Brian Thomas Jr. Told to Take Notes From Michael Irvin as Jaguars Legend Wants Team to Ditch “Loser Mentality”
The Jacksonville Jaguars are sitting at 1-1, but the mood in Duval County doesn’t feel like a team that’s balanced. Instead, the talk is circling around wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. So far, it looks like the sophomore slump is real.
Trevor Lawrence was expected to take a step forward, which should have lifted Thomas and rookie Travis Hunter with him. However, neither wideout has shown up on Sundays. Instead, Parker Washington and Brenton Strange are making the plays. That has Jaguars fans frustrated, and it has team legend Jimmy Smith calling out Thomas for not pulling his weight. After the game, Smith didn’t hold back. On X, he blasted Thomas, saying, “Stop being scared of getting hit! Catch the damn ball!”
But he did not stop there. Later, on Jax Sports Radio, he explained Thomas needs to study how Michael Irvin played the position. “Michael Irvin wasn’t a speed guy. He wasn’t a 4-4 guy. He was more like a late 4-5 probably an early 4-6 Yeah, but he made up for that was his stance being down. Michael Irvin used to come off the ball in a three-point stance early his career in Miami,” Smith explained.
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What Smith meant was simple. Irvin didn’t have blazing speed, but his stance gave him an edge. That technique allowed him to explode out of his breaks and run routes at the same pace as guys with 4.3 or 4.4 speed. So while the stopwatch said one thing, on the field he looked just as fast. That’s the kind of edge Smith believes Thomas has to develop.
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Finally, Smith had one more shot, this time at the whole team. He urged them to reset their mindset. “You know that you see the end of the lot of the season and then go on social media and everybody’s bashing you’re talking about how bad of a team you are that’s terrible to go through, and you know that, that mentality starts setting in without you even knowing it you have that loser mentality.” It was blunt, but Smith made it clear: talent isn’t enough if the Jaguars don’t drop the losing habits.
