Jaguars draft: Is Justin Fields better than Trevor Lawrence?

Even though the Jacksonville Jaguars can’t (and won’t) officially announce they will take quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, head coach Urban Mayer and assistant head coach Charlie Strong have implied the Clemson standout will be the choice with the top pick. However, will he be better than Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields down the road?

You will have a hard time finding someone who believes Fields is a better prospect than Lawrence. After all, the Tennessee native is the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck. Sure, Ohio State fans will have a preference for Fields, but there aren’t many arguments that support Fields is the better player but Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report does think he will be better than Lawrence.

Davenport believes Fields will be the best quarterback from the 2021 class despite the fact has been unjustly criticized the last couple of months, having been questioned about his work ethic. He points out he played at a high level at Ohio State, completing 68.4 percent of his passes and throwing for 67 touchdowns to just nine interceptions.

Moreover, Davenport highlighted the fact Fields threw six touchdowns against Clemson even though he took a hit to the ribs and thinks he will land in a better team than Lawrence, which help him in his development.

The Jacksonville Jaguars feel comfortable drafting Trevor Lawrence.

There’s no doubt Fields is a talented prospect and has the tools to be a successful quarterback in the NFL. In fact, Davenport is not alone in his assessment. Jordan De Lugo of Generation Jaguar believes Fields is better than Lawrence by a slight margin. Keep in mind that if the Jaguars hadn’t secured the top pick in 2021’s draft and had the second overall instead, Fields would likely be their choice.

Then there’s the fact the draft is a crapshoot, and ‘can’t miss’ prospects end up not panning out in the NFL, so why have the Jaguars zeroed in on Lawerence? If the former Tigers quarterback could’ve declared for the draft after his freshman year, he would have been a top pick in 2019. That’s how talented he is.

Also, knowing they would have the top pick gave the Jaguar a head start and have surely performed extensive research on Lawrence from the moment they clinched the selection, that’s why they have known for a while they will draft him first overall.

If both Fields and Lawrence fulfill their potential, they both should have productive NFL careers, but the Jaguars are confident Lawrence will be the most successful of the two.