Trevor Lawrence has proven to be a better pick than Zach Wilson so far

It looks like the Jacksonville Jaguars made the right decision when they drafted Trevor Lawrence over  Zach Wilson.

At one point last season, it looked like the Jacksonville Jaguars were on track to draft quarterback Zach Wilson. The New York Jets had the first overall pick in 2021’s draft but a win against the Cleveland Browns and the Jags’ loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 16 ensured that they would get the second overall instead. As soon as Jacksonville locked the top pick in the selection meeting, they became the favorite team to land Trevor Lawrence. On the other hand, things haven’t worked out particularly well for the Gang Green.

The Jets selected Wilson Zach Wilson one selection after the Jags made Lawrence the top pick in the draft. Looking back, the BYU product wasn’t necessarily a bad pick. He was a talented prospect coming out of college and there’s a good chance develops into a very good starting quarterback in the NFL. Heck, Chris Simms of NBC ranked him higher than Lawrence and several of his previous predictions have turned out to be right, so his opinion carries some weight among football analysts.

Nevertheless, Lawrence has proven to be the better pick so far. His career, just like Wilson’s, won’t be defined by one offseason but the Clemson product is off to a good start. First, he earned a higher Madden 22 rating than his New York counterpart. This won’t have an impact on the football field but it’s worth noting that the programmers at the EA headquarters believe the Jaguars have the better quarterback.

Trevor Lawrence is showing progress on the football field.

Trevor Lawrence had a productive first day of training camp and is making throws no other Jaguar quarterback could have pulled in previous years. While he practiced with the second team on Day 1, he joined the ones on Day 2. He’s trending up and is a good bet to start in Week 1 of the 2021 season. Moreover, he threw a football to Jags fans during Thursday practice, who does that nowadays? Here’s the clip, via  Brent Marineau of CBS47/FOX30.

Meanwhile, Wilson hasn’t taken the field since mandatory minicamp because he hadn’t signed his rookie deal contract. He finally inked the deal Thursday but there’s no reason why it should have taken this long. This one falls on the Jets, as he’s missing valuable practice reps. Instead of fighting about including inconsequential clauses on the deal, they should be making sure their rookie passer is ready for the season. Wilson could eventually catch up but this could have been easily avoided.

It will be a while before the Jaguars know if they have a franchise quarterback in Lawrence. He’s just beginning his NFL journey but the early signs are positive. Wilson may eventually become the quarterback the Jets need but he’s off to a rocky start. Maybe his very short holdout will be a footnote in his pro career but the Jags should be pretty pleased with the decision to pass him over in favor of Lawrence. At least for now.