By: Jake Rajala

The Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence didn’t have a sexy rookie season, to say the least. T-Lawrence unveiled 12 touchdowns to a league-leading 17 interceptions in 2021. PFF awarded Lawrence a 59.6 grade for his rookie performance. He also had a mere three wins — which penciled in the Jags as the first overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

It should be noted that it’s somewhat understandable why Lawrence had growing pains as a rook. He didn’t have a fantastic offensive line, as PFF ranked the Jags OL as the 24th best OL at the eclipse of last season. Furthermore, he did have Urban Meyer (also known as Johnny Manziel with a headset) as his head coach.

On the flip-side, he did have Marvin Jones Jr, James Robinson, and Laviska Shenault Jr. His weaponry wasn’t near porous standards. It’s safe to say that Jared Goff, who threw 19 passing touchdowns to 8 ints last season (while leaning on the rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown), deserves much more credit than Lawrence for his efforts in 2021.

All in all, Lawrence has great tools and he did flash excellence in 2021, but should NFL fans actually expect a significant turnaround from the Jags QB?

Lawrence may be a shiny first overall pick, but his miscues were seriously on another level last season. As previously mentioned, he led the league in interceptions. He also had a 59.6% completion percentage — which was the worst completion percentage among QBs with 12+ interceptions, according to NFL.com. His 6 yards per attempt was ranked as the worst YPA among QBs with 10+ interceptions. It’s clear that he was the opposite of firing on all cylinders last season.

With that said, the Jags new head coach Doug Pederson is a sharp cookie and he did completely turn around the young Carson Wentz from year one into year two. Wentz unveiled 16 touchdowns to 14 Interceptions as a rookie then proceeded to unleash an impressive 33 passing touchdowns and 7 interceptions as a sophomore.

The Jags also did an absolutely amazing job of adding firepower to the Jags offense this off-season. Their GM, Trent Baalke, had a Madden-like FA experience as they brought in Christian Kirk, Evan Engram, and Zay Jones. They also brought in Brandon Scherff, who should really help the OL. Besides the new faces, the young RB Travis Etienne will also return healthy.

I love the outlook for the two x-factors in Engram and Etienne. They will be mismatch nightmares and they should help cut Lawrence’s turnovers.

All in all, I believe that Lawrence isn’t overrated entering 2022. I don’t expect him to have a 2022 outcome similar to Kirk Cousins: where Cousins threw 33 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Although I could forsee him having a 2022 season that’s similar to Derek Carr’s outing last season: 4,804 passing yards, 23 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. I believe Lawrence will have sky-high passing yards, a modest touchdown figure (around 25 passing TDs), and some growing pains (around a dozen interceptions). He isn’t ready to garner comparisons to fellow first overall pick Peyton Manning, but he should make a positive leap forward in 2022.

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