The Jacksonville Jaguars‘ wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. has had a tough start to the season. With a league-second-worst catch rate of just 41.9%, his slow start has even fueled trade rumors. But despite the outside noise, his teammates haven’t lost faith in him. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence knows better than to count Thomas out.

“I’m very confident,” he said when asked if Brian Thomas Jr. can improve this season. The two have grown closer over the past few months. The quarterback even shared that he had a conversation with the WR and considers the hiccup as a “part of developing” for the WR in the league.

“He’s been awesome with me and very receptive,” he praised Thomas. “And I think the communication has been great, and I got all the confidence that he’s going to play really well.” He might be right. This is Thomas’ second year, and there have been other hurdles which perhaps limited him.

Before Week 9, he struggled with his injury issues and saw limited action for the same. He also wore a non-contact pinnie during the practice. During the games, he struggled to connect with Lawrence. The pass dropping has also been an issue.

While Brian Thomas Jr. was targeted with 55 passes, he had success with 27 of those.

It took five games for the wide receiver to score his first touchdown this season. Last year was a different story. He recorded 1,282 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns on 87 catches, ranking just behind star wideouts Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson.

Now, these tough seven weeks don’t erase what he accomplished in his rookie year. The LSU product still clearly has the potential to help the Jaguars. This season, he had 365 receiving yards and one touchdown on 27 catches, which is just behind the Jaguars’ two-way player, Travis Hunter.

However, the underwhelming start didn’t take long enough to start trade speculations. Head coach Liam Coen recently dashed all those rumors.

Liam Coen has no plans of trading Brian Thomas Jr. away

Recently, Diana Russini, in her report, shared that the Jaguars are reportedly “listening” to the offers to trade the WR. However, she clarified that it might be an “unlikely” move. And she is right.

While the rumors continued to swirl, Coach Coen recently dismissed them, explaining that the team has faith in Thomas and that he isn’t going anywhere.

“We have no plans to move Brian Thomas,” Coen told Michael DiRocco. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in him.”

So, while Lawrence may not have spoken about the player’s trade situation, his words only reiterated the faith that the coach spoke about. After all, he leads the Jaguars with 365 receiving yards. Now, the Jaguars will hope for the WR to quickly return to his old self as they push to strengthen their playoff chances.