Trevor Lawrence wasn’t sharp throughout the Jacksonville Jaguars’ first training camp practice on Wednesday, July 29.
It doesn’t matter.
Lawrence’s first pass in a 7-on-7 drill was intercepted by safety Eric Murray.
Nobody should care.
And Lawrence overshot rookie tight end Tanner Koziol late in the workout.
Whatever.
This was Day 1 for the Jaguars in what they hope is a season that lasts about 200 days and ends with the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance. (For your planning purposes, the big game is Feb. 14 in Inglewood, Calif.).
Lawrence didn’t need to be great in the camp lid-lifter and needs to be just serviceable throughout August. Just get to Week 1, Trevor.
Such is the new normal for Lawrence, a new normal he earned over the second half
of last season. The right kind of pressure is on him, the kind of pressure reserved for the top 10-12 quarterbacks in the NFL. Can he take the next step (or three) and again be an MVP finalist? So many things are in his favor to make it happen.
Selecting Lawrence in QB draft
Since there isn’t a game this weekend or a joint practice to examine, let’s start training camp with this exercise: How many quarterbacks would you draft to start a team ahead of Lawrence?
The main qualifier: A quarterback’s age must be taken into account, which means Pittsburgh’s Aaron Rodgers (42) and the Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford (38) are eliminated from consideration.
And this …
Back in Week 8 last year, after the Jaguars limped home from London with a 4-3 record, I participated in a Quarterback Draft on 1010XL. There were three of us selecting and Lawrence was 19th … and it seemed about right. There just wasn’t a lot there to be encouraged about. Shoot, I picked Jaxson Dart of the New York Giants ahead of Lawrence.
But the Jaguars ended the regular season 13-4 and Lawrence played at an elite level, scoring touchdowns and not committing turnovers.
The no-doubt quarterbacks I picked ahead of Lawrence are Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills), Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals), Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs), Jared Goff (Detroit Lions), Baker Mayfield (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys).
Tepidly, I would pick Lamar Jackson (Baltimore Ravens) and Drake Maye (New England Patriots) just ahead of Lawrence.
That leaves Lawrence ninth on the list, just ahead of Justin Herbert (Los Angeles Chargers). That means he is elite.
Lawrence vs. Herbert is an interesting debate. Herbert is 52-43 in the regular season with 163 touchdowns, 58 interceptions and a 96.3 rating. He is 0-3 in the playoffs. Lawrence is 35-42 in the regular season with 98 touchdowns, 58 interceptions and an 86.3 rating. He is 1-2 in the playoffs.
Taking next step as QB, offense
After practice, I asked Lawrence about experimentation within the offense, figuring that last year — because the offense was new — that’s all the Jaguars did in July and August; run every single play before narrowing down the call sheet for the regular season opener. This year, is it about really burrowing down on the go-to plays, the things they know they’ll run against Cleveland?
“I think there’s definitely (a) honing in on stuff that works,” Lawrence said. “It’s also a lot of, I wouldn’t say experimenting, but working on things we know we need to get better at.”
That is the next step for this Jaguars offense. To use the cliché, there is so much more meat on the figurative bone. Lawrence ranked 22nd last year in completion percentage (60.9). That can’t be all pinned on dropped passes and he knows it. He must be more accurate downfield, particularly on the perimeter and he knows it.
“Whether it’s explosive plays down the field (and) some of the deep shots (or) just some of the run-game stuff that might be plays we’ve done in the past, but maybe we’re doing more of because we think we’re better at those concepts,” Lawrence said. “And then you’re always trying to add little wrinkles here and there.”
Everything is set up for Lawrence to be even better this year. In coach Liam Coen, he is with one of the league’s best play-callers. The top three receivers of Jakobi Meyers, Parker Washington and Brian Thomas Jr. know how to get open. And tight end Brenton Strange is a match-up headache.
Success isn’t automatic in this league, but it would be shocking if Lawrence took anything but consistent steps forward.
This is a player at age 26 who is entering the wheelhouse of his professional prime.
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM on Tuesdays (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night"), Thursdays (1:15 on "XL Primetime") and Fridays (4-6 p.m. on "The Lead").
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: At age 26, Trevor Lawrence entering wheelhouse of his NFL prime
