Trevor Lawrence’s NFL career hasn’t gotten off to the start the former Clemson Tiger would have hoped for.
Through three games, the Jacksonville Jaguars rookie quarterback and No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft has completed 54 percent of his passes for 669 yards and five touchdowns with seven interceptions, tied for the most picks in the league with New York Jets rookie Zach Wilson, who was drafted right behind Lawrence at No. 2 overall.
However, despite Lawrence’s rough start, there’s no other rookie quarterback in the league that Jags offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell would rather have on his team.
Bevell made that message loud and clear while meeting with the media on Tuesday.
“You can look around the league, I’ll take our guy every day [against] the other rookie quarterbacks and how they’re doing,” he said.
Bevell pointed out that Lawrence, like other rookie quarterbacks, is still getting used to doing simple things at the NFL level that he didn’t have to do in college.
“It is a different game for them now, and when they come into the NFL — I’ve said this to other coaches — but when you think about quarterback play from when we were all growing up and being very little, there’s three things that nowadays in college that some of these guys come to our NFL and they haven’t done,” Bevell said.
“Number one, they haven’t taken a snap under center, so that’s a change for them. Number two, they don’t call a cadence, right. You think that’s a little thing, but that’s a huge thing to be able to bark out the cadence, help you out. And then they don’t call a play in the huddle. They’re looking off to the side or the coaches are changing the play. So, just the three most basic things that a quarterback does, not all quarterbacks that come into the league are doing it. So, there’s some of those just simple carryovers that as they come to our league, they haven’t had. So, just the basics, they’re getting up to speed.”
Although it may not show up on the stat sheet or in the win-loss column for the Jaguars, who are off to an 0-3 start, Bevell has seen improvement from Lawrence in the early going of his career.
“Trevor’s progression has been great,” he said. “He’s doing a great job. He works his tail off. I think his communication with the players on the team and the guys in the offense, his communication during the game, all those thing — he’s just really doing a nice job with it, and his play is getting better and better.”
Lawrence will try to earn his first win as an NFL quarterback this Thursday when he and the Jaguars take on the Cincinnati Bengals and former Clemson Tigers D.J. Reader, Tee Higgins and Jackson Carman.
"You can look around the league, I'll take our guy every day [against] the other rookie quarterbacks and how they're doing."
— #Jaguars OC Darrell Bevell on Trevor Lawrence pic.twitter.com/FRzSCgkTH3
— Mia O'Brien (@MiaOBrienTV) September 28, 2021
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