Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence starting to make his presence felt

You have probably noticed that the national media has recently started to talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars after years of hardly ever bringing them up. So what has changed suddenly? It’s not complicated. They’ve simply started winning, and that will get you the spotlight. In the Jags’ case, they’ve beaten a couple of teams in a convincing fashion, so it’s hard to keep them out of the conversation. Similarly, Trevor Lawrence is playing at a high level and is proving he’s as good as projected coming out of college.

Saying Lawrence struggled in his rookie season is an understatement. The former Clemson Tiger completed less than 60 percent of his passes and threw for just 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, tied with Matthew Stafford for the most in the league. Then again, the Jags didn’t have a competent head coach in place last season and the organization failed to surround Lawrence with enough talent. Both things hindered his development but not everything was gloom and doom.

In the midst of the dysfunction that Meyer fostered, Lawrence flashed the ability to make the throws only the best quarterbacks can pull off and the talent that made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft. Looking back, it’s fair to wonder how he would have fared if he had the guidance of someone who knew how to work with quarterbacks. But the Jaguars didn’t want to wonder and instead looked for the best head coach available to fill the void left by Meyer.

The Jaguars ended up with Pederson, who has helped Lawrence untapped his potential. This season, the sophomore has completed 69.4 percent of his passes for 772 passing yards with 772 touchdowns and just one interception. Moreover, he’s averaging 7.0 yards per attempt – one full yard more than last year — showing he’s not afraid to take deep shots.

Trevor Lawrence is playing a big role in the Jaguars’ sudden success

Not everybody was sold on Lawrence last season though. Chris Simms thought he was good Zach Wilson was better. Similarly, Keyshawn Johnson said he needed to see more before he anointed him as the next best thing. Of course, it’s perfectly valid to be skeptical of a prospect, and not everyone is going to have the same opinion of the same player.

However, Lawrence has always displayed the physical and mental attributes to eventually become a top quarterback. He just needed to be put in a position to succeed, which is what the Jaguars did this offseason and it’s paid off. Simms now holds Lawrence in high regard while Johnson he can lead Jacksonville to the playoffs this season.

Furthermore, you will see Lawrence moving up in quarterback rankings. He cracked the top 10 in the one Steve Ruiz put together for The Ringer and Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports placed him at No. 14 (top half of the league) heading into Week 4.

Having said that, there’s plenty of work left for both Lawrence and the Jaguars. The former needs to keep getting better. Ruiz notes he needs to work on his pre-snap reads but believes that “give it time and that part of Lawrence’s game will catch up with the rest“. Similarly, the Jaguars can’t rest on their laurels and must continue to win games if they want to win their first division title since 2017.

Working in Lawrence’s and the Jags’ favor is that Doug Pederson won’t get let the team get complacent and will keep pushing them for the remained of the season.