![Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) looks to congratulate other Buffalo Bills players after the game of an NFL football AFC Wild Card playoff matchup, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. The Bills defeated the Jaguars 27-24. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_6000,h_3375/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/55/01krvkdd0g7dhmbaaqm4.jpg "Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) looks to congratulate other Buffalo Bills players after the game of an NFL football AFC Wild Card playoff matchup, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. The Bills defeated the Jaguars 27-24. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]")
With head coach Liam Coen at the helm, Trevor Lawrence had a career year in 2025, posting a personal best in touchdown passes. The Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback led his team to 13 wins in the regular season, easily their best record since he arrived in 2021.
Most analysts are still hesitant to put the former first-overall draft pick into conversations with the NFL's elite quarterbacks, though. Collin Cowherd, for example, doesn't even have him in the top ten. Jags' defensive lineman Arik Armstead firmly believes that his QB belongs among the elite.
Speaking on Good Morning Football, he said, "100 percent, he should be in that conversation."
Jaguars' Arik Armstead has high praise for Trevor Lawrence
For Armstead, the shift took place in a Week 16 win over the Denver Broncos. The defensive lineman said, "A big area for me, and what solidified it for me was that Denver game on the road. Denver coming in, an elite defense, one of the best defenses in the league, pass rush, blitzes, playmakers all over the field."
"They were sending pressure at him, they were throwing zero looks, they were rushing with four with some great guys. But down the stretch, he made plays, he figured it out, he figured out the blitzing concepts that were coming at him, he got the ball in playmakers' hands in a high-pressure situation. So I think that was a big game, going late in the season against Denver, and I think he showed a lot."
At that point in the season, most of Lawrence's best performances had come against lesser defenses. Critics still questioned whether the QB was able to go toe-to-toe with the best in the league after losses to the Seattle Seahawks and the Houston Texans.
Lawrence put those concerns to bed against the Broncos. He was dialed in throughout the game, throwing for 279 yards and three touchdowns, completing 63.9 percent of his passes. Even against an elite Denver defense, he didn't turn the ball over. He even ran for a touchdown as part of his late-season dominance on the ground.
Everything clicked for the fifth-year QB, and he became the superstar he was always expected to be.
The rest of the NFL may not be ready to include Lawrence in the top class of the league's QBs, but his teammates certainly are. If he can continue his late-season form into 2026, there will be no more room for doubt.
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