The Jacksonville Jaguars enjoyed a massive turnaround in Liam Coen's first season as their head coach. It also helped that general manager James Gladstone was able to fortify a roster already loaded with lots of talent. Another reason the Jags managed to become a playoff team was that Trevor Lawrence played like a top-10 quarterback to end the year.
Lawrence was under pressure to deliver after an injury-marred 2024 campaign. While he got off to a slow start to the regular season, he finished strong. The expectation is that he will be even better in his second year under Coen. But precisely because Jacksonville needs Lawrence to take his game to the next level, an NFL analyst believes the Jaguars could be in trouble if he were to miss time with injuries.
The Jaguars nightmare scenario would be to lose Trevor Lawrence to injury
Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report drew up a nightmare scenario for each NFL team next season. For the Jags, he says that losing Trevor Lawrence to injury would be a major blow.
"After a breakout run in the second half of 2025, significant regression or another major injury for Trevor Lawrence would constitute a nightmare change of fortune for a team with just one playoff win since 2018."
The truth is that it's hard to see Lawrence suffer a regression in 2025. Sure, he has been inconsistent throughout his career, but that has had to do more with coaching turnover, and the lack of a talented supporting cast.
Back in 2022, Lawrence showed substantial improvement under Doug Pederson. He was able to build off of that and played at a top-5 level to start the next season. However, No. 16 dealt with a myriad of ailments that hindered his performance and forced him to miss time in 2023.
Then in 2024, Pederson was no longer actively involved in Lawrence's coaching, so his play suffered a steep decline. Compounding the issue is that he suffered a shoulder injury that brought his season to an end.
Lawrence had to recover last offseason while tweaking his footwork and learning Liam Coen's system. But once he got a hold of the new offense (and the Jags traded for Jakobi Meyers), he put it all together.
The expectation is that Lawrence should be better acquainted with Coen's offense. Couple that with the fact that he won't have to rehab any injuries, and the state is set for him to pick up where he left off last year.
Why the Jaguars would be in trouble without Trevor Lawrence
Precisely because Trevor Lawrence is one of the biggest reasons the Jaguars have a chance to seize the AFC South for the second year in a row, losing him for a significant period of time would spell trouble. Sure, they have lots of talent on both sides of the ball, and the running game could soften the blow of his potential absence.
Having said that, there's a steep drop-off from Lawrence to backup Nick Mullens. While there's no doubt that Mullens is adequate enough to fill in at quarterback for a couple games, he isn't the kind of signal-caller who can put his team on his shoulders and spearhead a playoff run.
The truth is that the as long as Trevor Lawrence plays like he did at the end of 2025, the Jaguars will be hard to beat next season.
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