Around the NFL

June 04, 2021

DJ Chark

Meyer wants wideout to play bigger

No one is really sure what Jacksonville's offense will look like under Urban Meyer. How he'll use his running backs, what the depth chart will look like at tight end, and how the wideouts will be ordered. Meyer had some things to say about potential No. 1 DJ Chark yesterday.

"He's a big guy that played little last year, and that can't happen," said Meyer. "He's got to play big and strong."

Kind of damning comments. Chark himself is apparently rising to the challenge, hitting the weight room and putting on muscle. Last year he was listed at 6-foot-4 and 198 pounds, but says today he weighs 210. Whether that extra weight will cost him some speed, we'll see, but ideally he'll be a stronger player. Perhaps that will help his catch rate, which wasn't great last year. Quarterbacking was a factor, but maybe "playing little" in Meyer's eyes includes not catching as many contested passes as he should have. Whatever the case, his catch rate was down from 2019 to 2020. Jacksonville's other top candidate to be the team's No. 1 wideout, Marvin Jones, was better.

Table shows catch rates for all wideouts with at least 90 targets in either of the last two seasons. Chark shows up below-average among the 84 qualifying wide receivers in 2019, but had one of the 15 worst catch rates last season. Jones -- albeit working with a better quarterback -- was in the top 35 both years.

WR CATCH RATES, 2019-2020 (90+ TARGETS)
Year	Player	Tgt	Rec	Yds	Avg	TD	Fmb
2019	Michael Thomas	185	149	1725	11.6	9	80.5%
2020	Curtis Samuel	97	77	851	11.1	3	79.4%
2020	Davante Adams	149	115	1374	12.0	18	77.2%
2020	Cole Beasley	107	82	967	11.8	4	76.6%
2020	Stefon Diggs	166	127	1535	12.1	8	76.5%
2020	JuJu Smith-Schuster	128	97	831	8.6	9	75.8%
2020	Tyler Lockett	132	100	1054	10.5	10	75.8%
2019	Tyler Lockett	110	82	1057	12.9	8	74.5%
2020	Cooper Kupp	124	92	974	10.6	3	74.2%
2020	Sterling Shepard	90	66	656	9.9	3	73.3%
2020	DeAndre Hopkins	160	115	1407	12.2	6	71.9%
2020	Tyler Boyd	110	79	841	10.7	4	71.8%
2020	Jarvis Landry	101	72	840	11.7	3	71.3%
2019	Chris Godwin	121	86	1333	15.5	9	71.1%
2020	Amari Cooper	130	92	1114	12.1	5	70.8%
2020	Corey Davis	92	65	984	15.1	5	70.7%
2020	Justin Jefferson	125	88	1400	15.9	7	70.4%
2019	Cooper Kupp	134	94	1161	12.4	10	70.1%
2020	Robby Anderson	136	95	1096	11.5	3	69.9%
2019	Keenan Allen	149	104	1199	11.5	6	69.8%
2020	Robert Woods	129	90	936	10.4	6	69.8%
2019	DeAndre Hopkins	150	104	1165	11.2	7	69.3%
2019	Larry Fitzgerald	109	75	804	10.7	4	68.8%
2020	Adam Thielen	108	74	925	12.5	14	68.5%
2019	Marvin Jones	91	62	779	12.6	9	68.1%
2020	Brandin Cooks	119	81	1150	14.2	6	68.1%
2019	Emmanuel Sanders	97	66	869	13.2	5	68.0%
2020	Keenan Allen	147	100	992	9.9	8	68.0%
2019	Calvin Ridley	93	63	866	13.8	7	67.7%
2020	Allen Robinson	151	102	1250	12.3	6	67.5%
2019	Stefon Diggs	94	63	1130	17.9	6	67.0%
2020	CeeDee Lamb	111	74	935	12.6	5	66.7%
2019	Amari Cooper	119	79	1189	15.1	8	66.4%
2020	Marvin Jones	115	76	978	12.9	9	66.1%
2020	Russell Gage	109	72	786	10.9	4	66.1%
2020	A.J. Brown	106	70	1075	15.4	11	66.0%
2019	Julian Edelman	153	100	1117	11.2	6	65.4%
2019	Davante Adams	127	83	997	12.0	5	65.4%
2019	Dede Westbrook	101	66	660	10.0	3	65.3%
2020	Terry McLaurin	134	87	1118	12.9	4	64.9%
2019	Robert Woods	139	90	1134	12.6	2	64.7%
2020	Tyreek Hill	135	87	1276	14.7	15	64.4%
2019	DJ Moore	135	87	1175	13.5	4	64.4%
2020	DK Metcalf	129	83	1303	15.7	10	64.3%
2020	Mike Evans	109	70	1006	14.4	13	64.2%
2019	Diontae Johnson	92	59	680	11.5	5	64.1%
2019	Jamison Crowder	122	78	833	10.7	6	63.9%
2019	Danny Amendola	97	62	678	10.9	1	63.9%
2019	Allen Robinson	154	98	1147	11.7	7	63.6%
2019	Cole Beasley	106	67	778	11.6	6	63.2%
2019	Julio Jones	157	99	1394	14.1	6	63.1%
2019	Christian Kirk	108	68	709	10.4	3	63.0%
2020	Calvin Ridley	143	90	1374	15.3	9	62.9%
2019	John Brown	115	72	1060	14.7	6	62.6%
2020	Brandon Aiyuk	96	60	748	12.5	5	62.5%
2019	Terry McLaurin	93	58	919	15.8	7	62.4%
2020	Darnell Mooney	98	61	631	10.3	4	62.2%
2020	Tee Higgins	108	67	908	13.6	6	62.0%
2019	DJ Chark	118	73	1008	13.8	8	61.9%
2020	DeVante Parker	103	63	793	12.6	4	61.2%
2020	Diontae Johnson	144	88	923	10.5	7	61.1%
2019	Tyler Boyd	148	90	1046	11.6	5	60.8%
2020	T.Y. Hilton	93	56	762	13.6	5	60.2%
2019	Jarvis Landry	138	83	1174	14.1	6	60.1%
2019	Michael Gallup	113	66	1107	16.8	6	58.4%
2019	Courtland Sutton	124	72	1112	15.4	6	58.1%
2020	Marquise Brown	100	58	769	13.3	8	58.0%
2019	DK Metcalf	100	58	900	15.5	7	58.0%
2019	Sammy Watkins	90	52	673	12.9	3	57.8%
2020	DJ Chark	93	53	706	13.3	5	57.0%
2020	Chase Claypool	109	62	873	14.1	9	56.9%
2019	Mike Evans	118	67	1157	17.3	8	56.8%
2019	DeVante Parker	128	72	1202	16.7	9	56.3%
2020	Michael Gallup	105	59	843	14.3	5	56.2%
2019	Kenny Golladay	116	65	1190	18.3	11	56.0%
2020	DJ Moore	118	66	1193	18.1	4	55.9%
2019	Odell Beckham	133	74	1035	14.0	4	55.6%
2019	Mike Williams	90	49	1001	20.4	2	54.4%
2019	Robby Anderson	96	52	779	15.0	5	54.2%
2019	Chris Conley	90	47	775	16.5	5	52.2%
2020	Darius Slayton	96	50	751	15.0	3	52.1%
2019	Curtis Samuel	105	54	627	11.6	6	51.4%
2020	Jerry Jeudy	113	52	856	16.5	3	46.0%
2020	A.J. Green	104	47	523	11.1	2	45.2%

If Trevor Lawrence hits quickly, and he might, one or both of these wide receivers could be very good this year. I think I'm a little more likely to select Jones.

--Andy Richardson

DJ Chark Marvin Jones

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