TREVOR LAWRENCE SHOWING SIGNS OF GROWTH EARLY ON

Jacksonville Jaguars

The face of the franchise is human. But he's displaying the development you want to see. 

BY JORDAN DE LUGO

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Jaguars' quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, is human. Early on during OTAs, Lawrence had his fair share of struggles and teachable moments. That's to be expected. After all, Lawrence is in a new offensive scheme with all new coaches and weapons around him — outside of Travis Etienne, his college teammate — for the first time since his freshman year at Clemson in 2018. 

Another reasonable expectation? Rapid improvement. After all, Trevor Lawrence is one of the most prodigious quarterback prospects to enter the NFL Draft, well, ever. According to his teammates, coaches, and the box score, Lawrence is showing the type of development you'd anticipate seeing from a young player with his level of talent. 

After a particularly impressive outing on Thursday, June 3rd, during the Jaguars' sixth OTA, Lawrence appears to be getting the hang of this thing. It's important not to get ahead of ourselves — these are still unpadded practices — but Trevor Lawrence is displaying the growth you want to see at this point in the offseason. 

According to John Shipley of the Jaguar Report, Lawrence completed 15/18 passes during team drills on Thursday. I was unable to attend, but Lawrence reportedly connected on deep balls to several offensive weapons, including DJ Chark and James O'Shaughnessy. 

Lawrence's teammates and coaches have taken notice.

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"I thought he looked great," Jaguars' head coach Urban Meyer told the media after practice. "He had a really good day today. He's just making steady progress. I want to say—I can't give you percentage of the installation, but we've been at it now for three weeks, and one of the advantages that we've had with Trevor [is] that we've kind of made a decision—I can't remember exactly when—we started working with him a good month before practices started. So, he's been great; his retention has been great, execution has improved. I just like — and so do I, I speak on behalf of [Brian] Schottenheimer and [Darrell] Bevell—his seriousness and his approach to this has been fantastic."

And the Jaguars' top returning receiver, fourth-year wideout DJ Chark, commended his young quarterback's efforts.

"Then you have talented players, you have Trevor, who's still learning, but the talent is definitely there," said Chark. "He doesn't mind throwing it, doesn't mind slinging it, which is something that's going to help this offense for sure. We still have a way to go to get to where we want to be, but it's not a bad start at all."

Chark continued: "I think he [Trevor Lawrence] did well. If I'm not mistaken, he threw me some pretty good balls today, which is cool. I like catching those. But every day is a step."

Running back James Robinson, a 2021 undrafted free agent who is one of the hardest workers in the NFL, has enjoyed getting to know Trevor and watching him put in work. "He's just a guy that likes to work," said Robinson. "Seeing him in practice, it's just like that's Trevor Lawrence, just watching him play, he throws the ball really well. He has some speed on him, too, so when we get in camp, we'll see how that goes. Other than OTAs, you're not really hitting each other and everything like that. He's a great guy and is fun to be around."

Newly acquired defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris has liked what he's seen from the Jaguars' rookie quarterback. "I think Trevor's going to be great." Robertson-Harris shared. "Obviously, I don't know too much about what's going on on offense, but I think he's going to have a great career in Jacksonville. Playing for [Head Coach] Urban [Meyer], he's going to mold into the quarterback he needs to be. Obviously, I can't touch him or get near him, I'll be on the Greyhound bus back to Texas, so I try to stay away from him during practice. I see a guy that wants to win games. He's dedicated; he's bought into the team philosophy. He wants to win, and that's what we're here to do."

While Trevor Lawrence is sure to have more growing pains throughout the summer and into the fall, he appears to be a strong worker, a good teammate, and someone who takes coaching well. He's quickly getting comfortable, allowing him to perform at a higher level from week to week. 

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