Might the Pittsburgh Steelers trade for another wide receiver this offseason and just one year after they dealt for WR DK Metcalf? As we sit here with the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine underway, such a notion should indeed be deemed plausible. One wide receiver who might be on the trade market this offseason is Jacksonville Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr., who was selected 23rd overall in the 2024 NFL Draft out of LSU. Well, that’s at least what ESPN is speculating in a recent post by Dan Graziano and Ben Solak.
“A first-round pick two years ago by the previous Jaguars administration, Thomas struggled enough throughout his second season that the team needed to trade for Jakobi Meyers at the deadline then signed him to a long-term deal,” Graziano wrote on Wednesday. “The Jaguars also got an impressive season out of Parker Washington. And while the new plan for Travis Hunter might be to focus on the cornerback position, Jacksonville still expects him to contribute something as a wide receiver. There has been no indication that trading Thomas is something the Jaguars are planning, but there are teams monitoring the situation in case the hyper-talented LSU product has fallen far enough down the Jacksonville depth chart that the front office would consider a move.”
Read into Graziano’s speculation about Thomas what you will. Personally, I won’t be incredibly surprised if the Jaguars do trade Thomas this offseason and possibly ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft getting underway less than two months from now. If the Jaguars can get a decent return for Thomas, either a late second-round or early third-round selection, perhaps they ship him out of Jacksonville. At the very least, it would probably be in the Steelers’ best interest to inquire about Thomas.
Thomas, who has registered 135 receptions for 1,989 yards and 12 touchdowns in his first two NFL seasons, has an extremely cheap 2026 contract year as he’s set to earn just $2,127,726 this coming season. That amount is fully guaranteed as well. With Thomas also being a former first-round draft pick, his fifth-year option decision for May 2027 would also travel with him as part of a trade.
If the Steelers acquired Thomas via an offseason trade, they would get one full season to evaluate him before having to decide whether they want to pick up his fifth-year option for the 2028 season. At the very least, Thomas’s contract runs through the 2027 season with his final year of his rookie deal having a total earnings amount of $2,794,086.
Would a change of scenery help propel Thomas to his pre-draft expectations? It could. Even so, I’m not sure I would trade a second-round pick for him if I were the Steelers. I would, however, seriously consider trading a third- and fifth- or sixth-round selection for him this offseason. Remember, the Steelers are scheduled to have three third-round selections in the 2026 NFL Draft as part of their 12 total picks. They only have one fifth-round selection in the 2026 NFL Draft right now, however.
“The expectation for Thomas entering his sophomore season was WR1 production,” Solak wrote on Wednesday. “But he struggled with drops and contact to start the season and ended up in more of a WR3 field-stretching role by season’s end. If another team wants to spend big draft capital on Thomas in the hopes that he returns to his rookie form in a new zip code, I’d get it. Thomas was better as a prospect than any wide receiver in the upcoming 2026 class. He had 707 yards and two scores in 2025, but he went for 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns as a rookie.”
Even if the Steelers ultimately traded for Thomas ahead of this year’s draft, they could still address the wide receiver position once, or even twice, in late April. That would be a wise plan overall and at the very least, Thomas would be an experienced, high-pedigree wide receiver to pair with WR DK Metcalf to start the 2026 regular season.
As stated, the 2026 NFL Draft is now less than two months away so if the Jaguars are indeed interested in trading Thomas, it would make sense for them to jettison him to another team in the next eight weeks.
Overall, ESPN puts a 20% chance on the Jaguars trading Thomas this offseason. At first blush, it seems like a fair percentage of that happening. We’ll now wait and see if it ultimately does happen and if the Steelers wind up being a team in the mix for him.