Trevor Lawrence Under Pressure as Jacksonville Jaguars Face Critical Stretch

Coming into the 2021 NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars won the prize of drafting Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Lawrence was 34-2 as the starting quarterback at Clemson. It wasn’t even considered that the Jaguars would select anybody else with the No. 1 overall pick.

Fast forward to Lawrence’s fifth season, there are some real questions about him. At the end of the day, new general manager James Gladstone and head coach Liam Coen were not the regime that selected him.

Lawrence is shouldering plenty of the blame for Jacksonville’s 14-point collapse against the Houston Texans on Sunday. The Texans were without their franchise quarterback, C.J. Stroud, making this a tremendously winnable game for the Jaguars.

Pressure will continue to mount on Lawrence. Evidently, Jaguars owner Shad Khan is excited about Gladstone and Coen as the leaders of the organization moving forward. Jacksonville traded a first-round and second-round pick to the Cleveland Browns to move up three slots in April’s draft to select two-way superstar Travis Hunter out of Colorado.

Hunter is currently on injured reserve, and his impact has not warranted the No. 2 overall selection or the amount of draft capital that Jacksonville had to give up to get him. He has caught 28 passes for 298 yards and one touchdown as a wide receiver. As a defensive back, he has 11 tackles.

Let’s be clear. Lawrence did not select Hunter. However, he will be blamed if the two-way star fails to live up to his pre-draft hype.

So many organizations give up on first-round quarterbacks too quickly. This season alone, we’ve seen Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, and Daniel Jones all turn their careers around with new teams. While those players did not have the pre-draft pedigree that Lawrence has, the 26-year-old quarterback has yet to consistently appear in the NFL Playoffs.

Lawrence’s lone playoff win came in one of the most epic showdowns in NFL history. The Jaguars overcame a 27-0 deficit in 2023 to take down the Los Angeles Chargers.

That win was part of the reason why the Jaguars gave Lawrence a five-year deal worth $275 million in 2024. His playoff victory and massive contract will make it hard for the Jaguars to move on, but the end of this season as well as 2026 will be very telling – especially without their own first-round draft choice.

The trade for Hunter told the NFL that the Jaguars believed they were close. At 5-4, Jacksonville’s season is far from over. Their schedule softens as well with the Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets, and two games against the Tennessee Titans.

Coen’s body language on the sideline of Jacksonville’s loss against Houston proved that he was fed up with his quarterback after another pedestrian outing. If Lawrence cannot bounce back with a softer schedule, Jacksonville could get creative to find a path forward.