Trevor Lawrence Doesn’t Deserve The Hate He Get’s
The most crucial thing to an NFL team is its starting quarterback. For the Jaguars, that is now Trevor Lawrence. The Jaguars have been unequivocally bad for the past decade, outside of their random AFC Championship run in 2017. This has given them the last two first-overall picks. They selected Travon Walker this year, and in 2021 they chose their messiah, Trevor Lawrence.
The thing about Lawrence was that he was seen as the golden ticket. He had every trait that scouts drool over. He had eight, arm strength, good pocket awareness, he could run, and most importantly, he was a winner. He won the national championship as a starter and multiple other awards, outside of being a Heisman award finalist. So, when it came time for the draft, he was the consensus first overall pick. So understood, he bought a house before he was even drafted.
So Why Did He Play Poorly?
Well, I could spew off every fan’s favorite thing to say when a rookie quarterback sucks, which is the Peyton Manning season. Peyton Manning, a current Hall of Famer, had an abysmal start as a rookie. He threw 28 interceptions as a rookie. But, this shows that not every player who looks terrible at the beginning of their career stays that way. But that isn’t even the most convincing reason he deserves some faith.
His coach last year was Urban Meyer, and if you haven’t heard about that debacle, you are in for a show. Meyer is a legend at the college level after dominating at Ohio State and Florida for multiple years and winning numerous national championships. But sometimes, great college coaches don’t make the best NFL coaches. Even Nick Saban couldn’t work, and some coaches like Joe Paterno were smart enough to avoid it.
But while his play-calling and everything was terrible, everything was off the field. Let’s start with what happened with Tim Tebow. Tebow stopped playing in the NFL at the end of the 2012 season. He wasn’t as good as people had hoped he would be coming out of college. So what does Meyer do? No, it doesn’t bring him back as a quarterback, but as a tight end. With no previous experience whatsoever, he got signed and nearly made the team.
Aside from that showing of essential nepotism, let’s talk about Josh Lambo. Lambo was the Jaguars’ long-time kicker but has left the team due to wanting to quit after Urban Meyer. Lambo claims that in August of 2021, he was kicked by Urban Meyer, and had some choice words thrown his way. All of this while refusing to acknowledge any of the specialists by their actual names. He’d always refer to the kickers and punters by solely their position title.
How Does This Affect Trevor Lawrence?
Well, any intelligent fan will tell you the most essential part of the team is the head coach. So, when Trevor Lawrence is stuck with an incompetent moron, it is tough for him to succeed there. There are also many more examples I could show of Meyer’s time there, including when he cheated on his wife at a bar or didn’t know Aaron Donald. But now, he does have Doug Pederson. Pederson was fired after intentionally losing the final game of the season for the Eagles back in 2021.
He stayed out of football for a year and is now back to hopefully try and help this struggling Jaguars team and Trevor Lawrence. They also had a few big signings, bringing in Christian Kirk and Evan Engram to support the quarterback’s development. He has what he needs to show out now, but will he do it is the question. I absolutely think so.
