Trevor Lawrence is letting it fly, and the Jaguars should not reel him in
The 2021 season is about letting Trevor Lawrence develop as their franchise quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and they have to take the good with the bad.
Whether Urban Meyer is equipped to be an NFL head coach is a big conversation topic, but the 2021 season is not about wins and losses for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence won’t be jettisoned one year in, so seeing what he can do carries no risk as he learns an NFL system and inevitably makes mistakes.
Lawrence threw three interceptions in a Week 1 loss to the Houston Texans. He followed that by going 14-for-33 for 118 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions against the Denver Broncos in Week 2. After the first drive of the game against Denver, he went 9-for-26 for 45 yards with two interceptions. His completion rate through two games is a nice even 50 percent.
Check out what Charles McDonald for For The Win wrote here with video clips of Lawrence against the Broncos. He did not play well against a very good defense, but the recurring theme is he was willing to take chances down the field. As McDonald cited, crediting Ben Baldwin of The Athletic, Lawrence average depth of target was 12.3 yards against Denver.
The top chart, from JJ Zachariason of numberFire, shows Lawrence has the highest rate of 15-plus air yard pass attempts in the league through two weeks (29.76 percent; 25 of 84 pass attempts). He’s tied for fifth in average depth of target. Of course with that downfield aggression comes some bad.
Alongside drops, deeming a pass catchable or uncatchable can be a very subjective thing made to shape a desired narrative around a player. But Pro Football Focus has deemed 30 of Lawrence’s attempts as uncatchable thus far, with the highest uncatchable attempt rate in the league. Pro Football Reference has credited Jaguars’ pass catchers with five drops.
Lawrence might eclipse Peyton Manning’s rookie record of 28 interceptions. But as the Jaguars move toward having another top-10 pick in 2022, the criticism and struggles of Lawrence doesn’t mean he should be reeled in by Meyer and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Rookie quarterbacks have ups and downs, and Lawrence is no different.