This season, Trevor Lawrence has been a complete and utter disappointment. Is that due to Urban Meyer’s influence and possible they just selected the wrong player with the first overall pick?
Trevor Lawrence is already one of the quarterbacks with the lowest ratings in the NFL, and his play so far in 2018 has made it even less likely that the team will choose him to start.
If someone believes that Urban Meyer was the cause of the issues in Jacksonville, they have no idea what they’re talking about regarding Football.
This season, Lawrence has the lowest average yards gained per completion of any starting quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) (5.7 yards). Lawrence cannot consistently advance the ball downfield because of his inability to do so.
Before the draught, I predicted he would have difficulty succeeding in the National Football League because he could not throw intermediate timing routes (click here to see article).
Who “Just Needs The Right Coach.”
When he played for Clemson, he had a habit of throwing the ball at the middle route level after the receivers had already made their breakouts or once they were open. This allowed him to find open receivers more quickly and not allowed in the NFL for quarterbacks to do. To avoid throwing a lot of interceptions, quarterbacks need to have the ability to throw the ball before their receivers break off the route they are running.
Jacksonville is why Lawrence is tied for the most interceptions thrown by a quarterback in the league this season with 14. To put this into context, Zach Wilson, whom I said in the NFL pre-draft would be an interception monster, has now thrown 11 interceptions.
All of the commotions with Meyer, who has been let go, provide Lawrence with a very handy smokescreen. Meyer is a very convenient target for those who support Lawrence to throw their fingers at. Now, for yet another offseason, we are all forced to listen to the same hogwash: Lawrence is still a great athlete who “just needs the right coach.”
Football isn’t the problem in Jacksonville, it’s the Urban Mayor.
I doubt that Jacksonville will be successful in luring in a hot, high-profile offensive coordinator interested in this position. It will take years for Jacksonville, a team that has won a total of 13 games for the previous four seasons, to construct a roster that is respectable enough to surround any quarterback with. Not to add that if any contender for the head coaching position with the Jaguars views the footage of Lawrence playing against NFL defenses, that candidate would realize that accepting the job would be professional suicide. This is a risk that Eric Bieniemy, Josh McDaniels, Kellen Moore, and Byron Leftwich are not willing to take.
Despite all the publicity and the lucrative contract with a golden parachute, the games will still need to be played. On the field, Lawrence has been a nightmare for Jacksonville this season while playing center, and off the field, he has shown how openly critical he can be of coaching. This is in addition to the fact that he has been a mess.
At the absolute least, a quarterback who has performed as poorly as Lawrence ought to be humbly attempting to learn the game with his mouth shut, and he ought to be doing this. He most would be, Lawrence is not the type of quarterback who would be embarrassed after putting up subpar performances week after week and Lawrence has publicly criticized the play-calling as well as the personnel decisions that have been made.
He has been a loud facilitator in having Meyer dismissed by talking about the drama surrounding Meyer and how it needs to stop and He has led to Meyer being let go from his position. Earlier in the season, Lawrence voiced his opinion on a play call that included a short yardage situation. He was also quite outspoken about claiming that running back James Robinson is a “heck of a football player. Therefore, I want him out there,” even though Meyer had benched Robinson (click here to see the article).
Although this kind of disobedience could be funny with an experienced quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, coming from someone as inexperienced in the NFL as Lawrence, it comes out as ridiculous.
Did the Jags fire Trent Baalke?
Now, whoever is in charge of Jacksonville will have to deal with not only a lack of talent on the second-worst team in the league but also an outspoken, erratic quarterback who has a propensity to lose his temper and oust a coach if things don’t go his way (and who also stated in Sports Illustrated’s pre-draft article that he doesn’t give a damn whether he wins or loses).
They will also have to contend with an offense with a very jerky rhythm from the quarterback and a player with no rapport with any of his receivers.
I was the only person in America who predicted that Trevor Lawrence would fail in the NFL, and there’s a good reason for that (pre-draft). I also assigned Trevor Lawrence a bust rate of 90% for a purpose.
That’s because I was able to see it.
My main concern is how long it will take for other people to be able to view it.
The Conclusion
Former New York Jets scout Daniel Kelly worked in the NFL and employed by the administration that included Dick Haley, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, Bill Belichick, and Bill Parcells. He presently contributes as an evaluator for Draft Diamonds and writes for Sports Illustrated New York Jets and Sports Illustrated Detroit Lions. Visit whateverittakesbook.com for more information on him. He has a Facebook page called WHATEVER IT TAKES NFL TALK and a Twitter account @danielkellybook.
Read Also: NFLbite: Free NFL Live Streams Now Available On Reddit