The Jacksonville Jaguars have done as much as they can to help Trevor Lawrence this offseason. It's fair to say that they did it because they want to see him take off in 2025. That's led several analysts to declare that this will be a make-or-break year for No. 16. Nick Wright of FS1 agrees that he must prove himself but also believes he'll be up to the challenge.
Wright has been one of Lawrence's biggest supporters in recent years. He recently acknowledged in a roundtable that "the Prince" is going to be great in what's shaping up to be a critical year in his NFL career.
"Make or break year for the prince, yep, I think he's going to make it. And I love the receiving duo, and I think they had a good offseason. I thought just getting Trent Bauke out of the building was the best move Liam Coen could have made all year," Wright told co-host Chris Broussard. "And he made it on his first day, or as part of getting there. And I know you guys absolutely hate this graphic."
Wright continued, "Don't put it up yet, but you guys act as if my belief in Trevor Lawrence, all of the evidence for it, is from when he was in high school or college. Yeah, and it's not. He had a 15-month stretch of consecutive excellent football that included a playoff win."
Wright goes on to show a stretch from Week 9 in 2022 to Week 13 in 2023, where Lawrence went 15-6 and completed 68.7 percent of his throws with 29 touchdowns and six interceptions.
"There is an obvious line of demarcation, which is, I didn't just pick a random sample. It's when he got hurt, and then last year he was bad. So there's, it's like, it's not make believe that Trevor Lawrence after a terrible rookie season. Midway through year two, something clicked. He started playing great. The team started playing great. It culminated in a playoff comeback," Wright stated.
"They then took that momentum into the next year, and we're playing to be in first place in the conference. In a game he got hurt, he has not been that player, and the team has not been that good since then, but that's not a small sample. That's not random, and that's not based on Gatorade in high school for Clemson. So I know the players in it. We've seen it proof of concept, over 20 plus games in a row. I just need to see it this year."
So what did Broussard say? Simply that there's no excuse, to which Wright responded that "Trevor is going to be great."
Dating back to 2023, Lawrence has dealt with a myriad of injuries that have hindered his availability. In fact, he's recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered last year. Although he's on a snap count right now, he's expected to be at full strength by Week 1.
Why Nick Wright and the Jaguars are confident in Trevor Lawrence
Following the 2022 season, Trevor Lawrence was deemed a top 5 to 10 quarterback in the NFL, but that's no longer the case. His inability to stay healthy has prevented him from building consistency and putting it all together.
Working in his favor is that the Jaguars' brass cleaned house and got him a head coach who will be fully invested in his development, which wasn't the case in past years. Similarly, the front office has made upgrades to both the offensive line and wide receiver corps, so he should have no shortage of help in 2025.
This is a long-winded way to say that Lawrence has anything he needs to succeed. It will be up to him to get the most out of his situation. For that to happen, he'll need to shake off the injury bug. But if he does, he should be able to reclaim his place as one of the best passers in the league.