Jacksonville head coach Doug Pederson views new wide receiver Gabe Davis as a weapon who can help open up the Jaguars offense in 2024.
"Gabe is, to me, like a Swiss army knife. He can obviously run routes, the guy is right around 81-82 targets a year for the last four years if you average them out. He's a big part of the offense in Buffalo," Pederson said of Davis last week, via the Florida Times-Union.
The Jags inked Davis to a three-year, $39 million contract this offseason. The initial plan was to add Davis to the mix while retaining Calvin Ridley, who eventually signed with the Tennessee Titans. In the aftermath of the switcheroo, Pederson views Davis as a player who can threaten all three levels of the defense.
"Just his style of play. He's big, he runs extremely well, he's physical as far as blocking. There's a reason why he averaged about 80-plus targets a year. He's a down-the-field guy, much like Marvin Jones (Jr.) our first year," said Pederson.
"Not the same speed guy as Calvin, but can affect the defense down the field, is something that we look for opposite of [WR] Zay Jones and mixing in with [WR] Christian (Kirk). Just excited to have him and work with him."
Davis was a big-play maven during his time in Buffalo. The wideout generated 27 touchdown catches since entering the NFL in 2020 (T-14th in the NFL in that span). According to Next Gen Stats, Davis has 17 deep receiving TDs since 2020 (T-3rd in NFL, including playoffs)
Davis has 16.7 yards per catch in his career (1st in NFL since 2020, min. 150 catches). The biggest question is whether he can be more consistent in Jacksonville after going full games without a catch during his time in Buffalo.
The big-bodied wideout should immediately help jumpstart the Jags' running game as an above-average blocker from the receiver position.
"I think he's going to be another key piece to what we're doing and we can put him in positions to block, we can put him in positions to run, he's a good route runner, he's strong, he's big, he's local," Pederson said.
