Christian

Kirk

Schefter’s latest report reveals Kirk is now out for the season. It is a brutal end to a disappointing season. Kirk finishes with 27 receptions, 379 yards and one touchdown on 47 targets. His 1.72 yards per route run average ties for the fourth-lowest of his seven-year career. While Kirk’s contract includes some dead money in the 2026 and 2027 voided seasons, the Jaguars can save $10.7 million against the 2025 cap if they release him before June 1st, 2025. They would notably take on roughly $13.65 million in dead money in 2025 as well but the double-digit savings could be enough to cut the soon-to-be 28-year-old player.

Kirk landed about as hard as possible on his shoulder on a fourth quarter deep attempt and was seen grabbing at his arm before the play was even dead. Not good. He skipped the injury tent and headed straight for the locker room. He was ruled out a few moments later. Looks can be deceiving, but this had all the appearances of a multi-month injury. Kirk’s injury came the same day Brian Thomas Jr. (chest) and Gabe Davis (shoulder) also got banged up. He had just two catches for 59 yards before going down. The Jags visit the Eagles in Week 9.

Schefter also mentioned Diontae Johnson as a receiver who could be on the move, and that is feeling closer to a given with every Panthers loss. Kirk has flown under the radar as a potential trade target for receiver-needy teams, but the move makes sense for all involved. The veteran receiver is averaging 3.6 catches for 46 yards per game this year. Those numbers were at 4.8 catches and 66 yards last year. The emergence of Brian Thomas Jr. has pushed Kirk down the target totem pole in Jacksonville, making him expendable for the offense. Kirk would land on a contending team with targets to spare, making most landing spots upgrades for his fantasy outlook.

Evan Engram returned to the lineup last week and immediately took Kirk’s job as the easy target for Trevor Lawrence. Kirk has played three games with Engram active this year and has five receptions for 93 scoreless yards in the trio of contests. An uptick in passing volume versus the Packers in Week 8 will help turn his fantasy fortunes around, but Kirk is not the same receiver with Engram on the field. He will get sent to the end of the WR3 ranks next week.

Evan Engram returned to the lineup this week after a four-game absence because of a hamstring injury. He immediately became Trevor Lawrence’s favorite target on short and intermediate looks, seeing 10 targets to Kirk’s six. Kirk entered Week 6 on a streak of three games over 60 yards. He amassed 19 receptions during that stretch. He wasn’t making big plays or scoring often, but Kirk was serving as a safety valve for Lawrence, making him a viable PPR WR2. Without a heavy dose of targets to fall back on, Kirk will tumble into the WR3 ranks for his Week 7 matchup with the Patriots.

It was a strange day for Kirk, who tied for his second fewest targets of the season but posted a new 2024 high for yardage as Trevor Lawrence had a career outing with 371 tallies. 61 of Kirk’s yards came on an early third quarter target where he was let loose and simply ran by the entire Colts defense. Indy was lucky it wasn’t an 84-yard touchdown. Kirk’s big day came as Brian Thomas Jr. had an even bigger one, also running by the Colts’ entire D but actually scoring his 85-yarder. Although Lawrence finally snapped this season-long slump this afternoon, Kirk will be a relatively uninspiring WR3 for Week 6 against the Bears’ tough defense.

Kirk had four targets on Jacksonville’s first series alone, and the Jaguars offense routinely got him easy schemed looks against the Texans safeties. His score came on an eight-yard out against Jalen Pitre. Lawrence befuddlingly missed Kirk wide open down the field in the third quarter for another would-be score. Kirk will have a gutter floor as long as Lawrence’s accuracy continues to struggle, but he’s got plenty of target upside with Evan Engram out. He’ll be on the WR2/WR3 line against the Colts in Week 5.

Kirk led the Jaguars in both targets and receiving yards, but a good portion of his damage was done in garbage time, which, in his defense, was basically the entire second half. Kirk is a talented receiver, but the Jaguars are running an offense in which they try to get him open for deep shots down the field when their offensive line can’t hold up for long enough to let that happen. When they started getting Kirk going in the intermediate areas of the field in the second half, they started to see some success, so perhaps that’s a trend that will continue going forward.

Kirk appeared set to dominate short-area targets with TE Evan Engram (hamstring) a last-second scratch but the Week 2 showing resulted in a worst-case scenario. Kirk even had a touchdown overturned due to a penalty. Kirk is a Week 3 flex option against a Bills secondary that is expected to be without slot cornerback Taron Johnson (forearm).

Engram wasn’t listed among the team’s inactives but is still out for Week 2. Second-year tight end Brenton Strange should be the next man up, though he and Luke Farrell may ultimately split the tight end snaps for Jacksonville. Strange is almost exclusively a blocking tight end, so fantasy managers can avoid this situation until we get more information. Engram’s absence will open up more shallow looks for the running backs and Christian Kirk.