Trevor Lawrence earns surprisingly high spot in The Ringer’s QB ranking

When it comes to Trevor Lawrence, the consensus agrees that he’s a promising young passer who is poised to make a big leap in Year 2. And while he has a good shot at becoming a top 15 quarterback down the road, Steven Ruiz of The Ringer already believes he is.

Ruiz recently ranked all starting quarterbacks ahead of Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season and Lawrence popped up at No. 14. The former Clemson Tiger was the highest-ranked passer from the 2021 draft class, landing several spots above Mac Jones (18), Trey Lance (24), Justin Fields (28), Davis Mills (29) and Zach Wilson (30).

Furthermore, Lawrence was ranked higher than several veterans, including Kirk Cousins (15), Ryan Tannehill (16), and Jameis Winston (17). So what does Ruiz think of the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft?

“A GENERATIONAL TALENT who needs to sharpen his process a bit before he makes the leap to the top of these rankings.” To get his point across, Ruiz capitalized the “generational talent” part and he’s right Lawrence needs to improve his decision-making in 2022. Last year, he completed less than 60 percent of his passes and threw 17 interceptions, tied with Matthew Stafford for most in the league.

Then again, the Jaguars didn’t put Lawrence in a position to succeed. Not only was Urban Meyer not fit to coach the Jaguars but Lawrence also lacked a solid supporting cast last year. By the end of the 2022 season, he was throwing passes to the likes of Laquon Treadwell and Jacksonville was down to their fourth running back. No quarterback, especially a young one, will thrive under those circumstances.

Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence might have been ranked too high

With Doug Pederson now at the helm, it’s easy to envision Trevor Lawrence getting significantly better in 2022. However, saying he’s already a top 15 quarterback is kind of a head-scratcher. Ruiz’s top 10 looks for the most part ok. However, not many analysts would consider Justin Herbert one of the best three passes in the league, at least ahead of Week 1.

Similarly, it was a bit surprising to see Lawrence ranked higher than Cousins. You can call him a game manager and it’s true that his record in primetime games is not the one you want from a franchise quarterback. However, he’s currently better than his Jaguars counterpart.

If by the end of the year, Lawrence has led the Jags to a few comebacks and has helped them win some close games, you can rank him in the top 15 but not right now. The potential is there, and he will attempt and (complete) passes just a few quarterbacks can pull off but he needs to put it on film on a consistent basis.

This writer would rank Lawrence in the early 20s, maybe low 10s. He has serious meme potential and the talent to eventually become one of the best quarterbacks in the league but let him win a couple of games before we peg him as the next best thing since the invention of Reddit.