Trevor Lawrence's struggles in Jaguars training camp have reasonable explanation

There's no way to sugarcoat it: Trevor Lawrence is off to a rough start to training camp. Things have gotten so bad on Day 4, that he earned a comparison to Blake Bortles. That said, the Jacksonville Jaguars aren't panicking just yet. In fact, offensive coordinator Press Taylor offers what sounds like a legitimate reason for his unit's early struggles.

Taylor told the media on Day 3 that he's pleased with the work Lawrence and the offense have put in early in training camp, pointing out that they normally install first and second-down but chose to start with third-round and red-zone drills this year.

"I like what we've done, where we started the first two days, red zone, take the volume off the guys' legs, get them back in the flow of playing. It's different than we've normally done," Taylor said when asked if the struggles are the nature of red zone drills. "We normally come out they want to install first, second down, next day's third down, next day's red. We just went red zone, and it's more for the players, and they appreciate that."

Taylor continued, "With that said, space is restricted. Things happen very fast. The install is still very small. Yesterday, probably had 26 reps in the red zone passes. We had six installs, six plays. So we're cycling through, and we'll tell Ryan, 'Hey, plays, 5, 10, 15, they're all the same play. They just mix coverage, so we can build our tapes. So they're doing the same thing. We're playing. They're playing. Obviously, we never want to turn the football over. That's that's No. 1."

"So there's things that happen that you'll coach off. But as of right now, we're putting our install together. They're putting their install together. We're hoping that the things we're putting in today, tomorrow, throughout the entirety of camp, are things that are going to help us throughout the course of the season, not necessarily to win today or win yesterday as we go."

In layman's terms, the Jaguars are still in the process of installing the offense. Furthermore, they don't have much room to work with in the red zone, which in turn has led to turnovers. Later in his exchange with the local beat, Taylor said that he'd rather have Lawrence making mistakes now than in the regular season, calling it them "coaching opportunities."

"They're learning opportunities," Taylor said when asked about one of Lawrnece's interceptions in practice. "Do I think he would have thrown that in the game? Probably not. For the most part, he's been a good decision-making when it's come to throwing the ball in harm's way, as it goes," Taylor said.

"But that's something that I'd rather happen today than in September. So those are things we'll continue to encourage him to take his opportunities to push the ball in certain situations, especially in practice."

So far, Lawrence has thrown an interception nearly every day of training camp and had two on Day 4. Meanwhile, the defense has dominated. The dire contrast has put the spotlight on the fourth-year quarterback. Here is Taylor's full exchange with the media on Day 3.

Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence is dealing with the ebb and flow of training camp

Trevor Lawrence has previously played at an elite level, but he's coming off a somewhat underwhelming season. Add the fact that he signed an extension that makes him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league and every mistake he makes will be magnified.

The good news is that Lawrence has ample time to put it all together before the start of the season. Ideally, he would be flawless in practice, but he'll undergo an adjustment period while the team installs the offense. It's also worth noting that Press Taylor didn't sound overly concerned about the quarterback's subpar performance in training camp.

This isn't to say that Lawrence's mistakes should be overlooked. If he continues to struggle as the season gets closer, the Jaguars should definitely start getting fidgety. That said, the Clemson Tiger has played enough to make you think that this is just a speed bump rather than a sign of things to come.

In the end, the Jacksonville Jaguars gave Trevor Lawrence a top-market contract because they believe his their guy. It's hard to think that they'll have buyer's remorse just a couple months later. In fact, they must be confident he'll eventually get out of his training camp funk.

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