The tank for Trevor Lawrence is officially over.
With the Jets defeating the Browns and the Jaguars getting blown out by the Bears in Week 16, New York locked in the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NFL draft. Jacksonville is locked in with the No. 1 pick following its loss to Chicago.
Sitting at 0-13 with three weeks left to play, the Jets seemed to be on a crash course to land the top pick in the upcoming draft, which is all but certain to net Lawrence. However, New York stunned the Rams in Week 15 and took advantage of the short-handed Browns on Sunday to put together a two-game winning streak.
The Jaguars, meanwhile, continued their losing ways and now sit at 1-14 entering Week 17. Even if Jacksonville won and New York lost to conclude 2020, the Jaguars would still hold the strength of schedule tiebreaker for the No. 1 pick.
With Lawrence now seemingly out of reach, it’s back to the drawing board for Joe Douglas and the Jets’ front office. The good news for New York is it will have no shortage of quality options with the No. 2 pick — assuming Douglas elects to stay put and does not trade down in order to accumulate more draft capital.
New York has picked second in the draft only twice in its history. Those picks resulted in Blair Thomas and Johnny “Lam” Jones, both of whom did not pan out. The hope is that Douglas and company can reverse Gang Green’s second-pick misfortunes and soften the blow of missing out on Lawrence by landing an instant impact player that can help the Jets dig out of the doldrums right away.