Given all the hype that surrounded Trevor Lawrence after he was the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, it would be fair to say that a lot was expected of the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback and in his first season, he performed admirably given the relatively poor standing of the team he represents.
In 2022 you can see how the 22-year-old is beginning to mature into the real deal, and as a result, things at the TIAA Bank Field are a whole lot more promising. Doug Pederson’s arrival in place of Urban Meyer is also a key factor in the growth of the player and the team as a whole, and after four weeks, the Jaguars have a respectable 2-2 record.
If you enjoy a bit of NFL online betting, then this site will point you in the right direction in terms of which sportsbooks are worthy of your attention, and you may even be tempted to place a bet on the Jaguars even getting into the playoffs, which isn’t such a ridiculous bet as it may have appeared a year ago.
Plenty of pundits feel that Trevor Lawrence might just be a once-in-a-generation type of talent, with ESPN’s Louis Riddick being very impressed by the trajectory of the young Jacksonville talent.
“He can be the top five, top three, top one passer in the league.”
Riddick believes that Pederson is the ideal coach to get the most out of Lawrence, adding;
“He’s just kind of got a real pleasant, like fatherly type voice way of talking to him. … We’ve all heard the story about how the backup makes the better coach than the superstar because the superstar has unrealistic expectations. He’s the living embodiment of that.”
“With Trevor, last year [12 touchdowns, league-high 17 interceptions], he had no shot. None. Zero. Less than zero. If he was gonna be subjected to that kind of atmosphere for his entire career, he’d be one of the all-time busts in terms of what our expectations were.”
The Jaguars started the season by losing a hard-fought encounter with the Washington Commanders, during which Lawrence threw for 275 yards and scored a touchdown in a 28-22 loss.
In week two, they crushed the Indianapolis Colts 24-0, and Lawrence completed 25 of 30 passes and collected two TDs. Another 3 TDs were secured in Jacksonville’s 38-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
That run of wins was brought to an end in Philadelphia as the Eagles ran out 29-21 winners, Lawrence picking up two more TDs. Even though they lost, they were once again competitive, and that’s not something you could say about the Jaguars in recent seasons.
The pairing of Pederson and Lawrence could well prove to be a big one for the Jaguars in the coming seasons, and it will be all about managing expectations for this season and then looking to build on that. It’s been five seasons since they last made it to the playoffs, and prior to that, it had been a decade since they went to the post-season, but there’s every chance that they could be set for a real upturn in fortunes.