How Parker Washington's versatility will open up Jaguars receiving options
Bucky Brooks explains how Parker Washington emerged as far more than a gadget player after injuries forced him into a larger role last season. Brooks details how Washington's ability to line up anywhere in the formation creates a chess-piece weapon, how Jacoby Myers fits as a chain-mover, and why the interchangeable unit reminds him of the Jaguars' run under Doug Pederson.
Video Transcript
And that's Parker Washington Jr. One of the things that was a blessing in disguise when you had the injuries on the perimeter with Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter missing time, Parker Washington had an opportunity to get on the field and to make a ton of plays in the slot, on the outside, being a guy that can do the dirty work, a guy who is now more than what we thought he would be, which is a gadget guy, a guy who's a punt returner, who a, on offense, maybe we can get involved on screens and fly sweeps and option routes designed to allow him to take advantage of his superpowers, which is his ability to run after the catch.
Well, after you've seen the way that he's played, there has to be a bigger role for him, which is one of the reasons maybe why Travis Hunter is probably slated to play a little more defense because they have more confidence in Parker Washington being able to do some of the things that he was able to do on offense.
Interestingly, when you listen to the, press conference after day one of OTAs and Liam Cohen talked about, "Hey, we need Parker to continue to expand upon what he did last season.
So we wanna make sure we get him the ball quickly in the screen game.
We wanna take advantage of his running skills with the fly sweeps and some of the trick plays, but we also wanna make sure we move him around the formation to make sure that he is featured prominently in the passing game."
When I hear that, what that means is Parker Washington is gonna be a bit of a chess piece where he can play outside, he can play inside, whether it's, Z or F or even on the backside at X.
He's gonna have an opportunity to move around so they can take advantage of the things that he showed as, I would say, like a really dynamic weapon over the middle of the field.
That is important because now when you look at this lineup, Brian Thomas Jr. is dynamic.
He's electric.
When he is on and locked in, you can't deny that, look, he's the same guy that his rookie season had 1,200 yards and we were talking about him being the best receiver we've seen in Jacksonville since Jimmy Smith.
Well, if he kinda reprises that role and regains some of that Pro Bowl caliber form, now with Parker Washington, you have two electric playmakers on the outside.
That makes it very, very difficult for defense to determine how they're going to set the double coverage, the bracket coverage, the things to neutralize what we say are your most explosive playmakers.
That allows Jakobi Meyers to kind of play the role that he always has played very successfully throughout his time in the league, and that is being the chain mover, meaning the third down option, the possession receiver, the guy that hooks up right at the sticks, you throw it to him, he catches it, he advances the chains, and it's another first down for the Jaguars.
Well, if he is able to play that role as opposed to maybe an elevated role where we count on him to be the number one when he's really built to be more of a two-three, it allows us to get back to a more balanced puzzle and a more balanced offense where guys are really doing things that work to their strengths.
And it kind of reminds me going all the way back to when Doug Peterson was there maybe his first year when we saw the remarkable comeback in the postseason.
Look, it was Marvin Jones, it was Zay Jones, it was Christian Kirk, and they were all interchangeable, and they found a way to just get the ball to the open man.
They've kind of recreated that in a way around Trevor Lawrence, and Trevor should be able to benefit from Meyers, Parker Washington, and Thomas playing in an interchangeable, offense that allows them to play to the strengths of their game while also making the game very, very simple for the quarterback
