“As the season goes on, he’ll be asked to do more,” receiver Christian Kirk said. “For a young guy to go out there and make the plays he did, I thought he played with a very calm demeanor and also some energy. A lot of people, including us, loved to see him get a little emotional during the game. That was good. It kind of set the tone. Each week, he’s going to keep getting better.”

His elder teammates haven’t shied from showering him with praise.

“It’s a huge spark for our team,” tight end Evan Engram said. “I told him today: ‘You might be a rookie. You might be quiet. But that energy you have on Sunday, the confidence we say come out of you, that’s going to help our team. We see it. We feel it.’

“Whatever he’s been doing, he needs to keep doing it. He has a bright future ahead. It’s only his first game. He’s going to continue to learn. He’s going to get better. He’s going to get more accustomed to the game, to our offense. I can’t wait to play alongside him the rest of the season and just watch him grow.”

As a first-round pick out of LSU, Thomas arrived with significant expectations. But he also joined a receiving corps that didn’t necessarily need him to immediately produce at a high rate, not with the presence of Kirk and offseason acquisition Gabe Davis.

And yet, in a game in which Jacksonville finished with just 267 yards of offense, Thomas accounted for a fourth of Lawrence’s total passing yards (162). He also drew a 40-yard pass interference penalty on Jalen Ramsey, setting up Travis Etienne‘s one-yard touchdown run to open Jacksonville’s scoring.

The downside to a strong debut is the fact opposing defenses will pay Thomas more attention going forward. But Lawrence saw a positive from that reality: It should make everything else a bit easier for Jacksonville’s passing game.

“Obviously they had a lot of respect for him,” Lawrence said. “Moving forward, it sort of changes how you cover a guy like that the rest of the game when that happens early. That’s only going to help us.”

We’ll see what Thomas has in store in the weeks ahead. After all, it’s only Week 1. But Thomas got off on the right foot, and soon enough, he just might come out of his shell, too.