Trevor Lawrence's awful Jaguars training camp earns him worst comparison imaginable

Trevor Lawrence is off to a rough start to training camp, turning the ball over left and right. His underwhelming play has led Bret Martineau of Action Sports Jacksonville to compare him to one of the most infamous figures in Jacksonville Jaguars history.

Pass rusher Travon Walker picked off Lawrence on Day 4 of training camp, prompting Martineau to describe the moment as having "Bortles 5 interception practice vibes."

Martineau was making reference to a practice in 2017 in which Blake Bortles threw five picks. This was one of the quarterback's lowest points in Jags uniform. The performance was particularly noteworthy because the BOAT threw two interceptions to cornerback Tyler Patmon, who had been away from football for more than two years at the time.

Going back to Lawrence, his less-than-stellar play has been one of the biggest plotlines of Jaguars training camp. He's thrown at least one interception per practice, which has raised concerns among fans and analysts. His worst outing probably came on Day 2, when safety Andrew Wingard picked him off twice.

One reason Lawrence's place has been under scrutiny is that he got a monster extension worth $275 million in the offseason. Fair or not, every mistake he makes will be magnified and critics will point out that the former Clemson Tiger didn't deserve to get a top-market contract. This line of thinking isn't entirely wrong. After all, signing a contract that makes you one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL comes with expectations.

Lawrence must prove he can carry the team on his shoulders. He'll also be tasked with steering the ship in the right direction and helping Jacksonville recapture the AFC South after a disappointing end to the 2023 season. On the other hand, it's just practice.

Right now, the Jaguars are installing plays and Lawrence is ironing out the kinks. He's also working on his rapport with his pass-catchers and getting his timing right. If this were Week 11 of the season, pushing the panic button would be justified, but the regular season is still more than a month away as of this writing, so the Jags will have ample time to fine-tune the offense.

Comparing Trevor Lawrence to former Jaguars QB Blake Bortles is an overreaction

There's no doubt that Trevor Lawrence must play better if the Jacksonville Jaguars want to have a legitimate chance to bounce back in 2024. However, comparing him to Blake Bortles may be a bit too much.

Bortles, the third overall pick in 2014, was seen for a brief time as the long-term answer behind center in Jacksonville. He turned heads in 2015 because he threw 35 touchdown passes with 18 interceptions. Then again, most of those touchdowns came in garbage time, when the game was already decided.

Later in 2017, the Jaguars offense ranked fifth in point scored, with Bortles completing 60.2 percent of his passes for 3,687 yards with 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. One closer look, though, will reveal that the former UCF Knight benefitted from getting a favorable field position thanks to the defense.

The team's brass failed to see that Bortles' solid performance was the result of having an outstanding defense and rewarded him with a three-year deal worth $54 million. By today's standards, it doesn't look like much but it was a pretty good deal back when he signed it in 2018. The Jaguars would come to regret the decision just a few months later.

A handful of weeks into the 2018 season, Bortles was benched in favor of Cody Kessler. Not because the latter was a better quarterback but because the Jaguars didn't want the former anywhere near the line of scrimmage. To nobody's surprise, the team's brass cut ties with Bortles in 2019. By 2021, he was already out of the league.

Make no mistake, Bortles is remembered fondly by Jaguars fans because he was relatable and somewhat of a bright spot in the 2010s. But that doesn't take away the fact that he was dreadful. This is to say that you can like him as a player at the same time acknowledge that he wasn't a good quarterback.

So far, Trevor Lawrence hasn't done enough to warrant a comparison to him. Sure, he's not been great in practice but isn't at the same level of awful as Blake Bortles. Unless, Steezy Trev benched in the regular season, comparing him to the BOAT is nothing more than hyperbole.

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