Christian Kirk led Jacksonville in receiving to conclude his first season with the team in 2022, and was on pace to do so again a year ago before his Week 13, season-ending core muscle injury.
Two starts into his 2024 campaign, Kirk has not yet resembled the steady playmaker he was over his first 29 games with the Jaguars.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who has been on the throwing end of Kirk’s career-blossoming in Jacksonville, was asked Thursday about the urgency to spark the starting slot receiver’s production this week when the Jaguars travel to Buffalo to face the Bills on Monday Night Football.
Lawrence put it bluntly: He needs to help get Kirk going.
“Yeah, for sure. He’s one of our best players and obviously, we have a lot of chemistry, and we’ve played a lot together,” Lawrence said of Kirk.
“He’s a guy I trust a lot, and you’re exactly right. I’ve got to get him going this week, and I’ve got a lot of trust and faith that it will get going this week and I’m not really concerned about that. I know it’s going to happen.”
Kirk has logged two receptions over seven targets for 29 yards through two starts this season, having taken the field for 91 offensive snaps. He dropped two passes against Miami in Week 1.
Kirk’s current receiving success rate — 14.3%, per Pro Football Reference — pales in comparison to the last two years: 57.6% in 2023, when he caught 57 of 85 targets for 787 yards and three touchdowns, and 52.6% in 2022, when he caught 84 of 133 targets for 1,108 yards and eight touchdowns.
In fairness to Kirk, his lack of production is not the lone reason Jacksonville’s offense — averaging 15 points per game thus far — has struggled to begin the season.
It likely does not help that, after missing the final five games of last season, Kirk experienced a minor calf injury this preseason, after logging only seven snaps in Jacksonville’s exhibition opener against Kansas City in August.
Still, Kirk appears healthy and capable of contributing now.
Kirk’s 14% target rate is down 10.3% from last year and is the lowest of any Jaguars player to have a pass thrown their way this season, per Next Gen Stats.
Yet he averages 2.9 yards of separation per target, a slightly below-average mark among NFL receivers but down just 0.2 yards from last year, when he was Lawrence’s top playmaker before getting hurt.
Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson suggested on Monday that there were times against the Browns in Week 2 when Kirk beat his coverage, but Lawrence had opted to aim for another route.
“The ball goes where it goes. There were opportunities, but the ball was going somewhere else in the progression,” Pederson said. “So, we’re going to continue to find ways to get Christian the football and he’ll be a big part of the offense.”
While he acknowledged the need for Jacksonville’s offense to stick to its gameplan in order to find success, Lawrence agreed with Pederson on Kirk’s importance to the unit, noting Kirk needs the ball in his hands more often moving forward.
“We’ve got to keep trusting the system and keep putting the best plan we can together, but of course, he has to be an emphasis and just the way he impacts the game,” Lawrence expressed. “You’ve got to get him the ball and get him in a rhythm.”