There haven’t been a lot of positives to smile about surrounding the Jacksonville Jaguars but all fans of the team tend to agree that receiver DJ Chark Jr. has been impressive to watch all season. The good people over at Pro Football Focus would agree with those sentiments as they have him down with an overall grade of 81.8.
The database also took a league-wide view at each respective team’s most underrated players recently and the second-year receiver was the player to make the list for the Jags.
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS: WR D.J. CHARK JR.
To say D.J. Chark Jr. is the most improved wide receiver in the NFL from 2018 to 2019 isn’t enough — he may very well be the most improved player regardless of position. After finishing the 2018 season ranked 112th out of 114 wide receivers in PFF receiving grade—and dead last among that group in drop rate—Chark is currently 14th in PFF receiving grade and has the ninth-lowest drop rate in 2019. More specifically, his deep receiving in 2019 has been excellent, as he is currently PFF’s fourth-highest-graded receiver on targets of 20-plus yards — he has the third-most deep catches and fourth-most deep yards so far this year.
Just as we’ve said in the past, PFF seems to believe Chark is one of the most improved players in football. Of course, part of that is because the bar was set kind of low during Chark’s rookie season where it felt like he could do no right between drops, penalties and injuries.
Chark will head into Week 12’s game with just under 800 yards while leading the league in receiving touchdowns with eight. He’s also found himself in Pro Bowl discussions, and if he became the Jags’ first receiver since Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns (2016) to accumulate 1,000 yards, he’ll have strong support from the Jacksonville community as far as votes go.
