The Athletic's Mike Sando has put together his annual quarterback tier rankings, which are voted on by 50 NFL executives and coaches. So where did the Jacksonville Jaguars'Trevor Lawrence end up ahead of the 2026 season?
The way this works is that each voter placed 35 quarterbacks into one of five tiers -- with the first tier being the best. The quarterbacks were then ranked and placed in tiers based on the average vote they received.
For Lawrence, after appearing in Tier 3 a year ago, he is now in Tier 2. He was one of just five quarterbacks to move up a tier. Overall, he was ranked as the 16th-best quarterback.
“Man, if there’s anybody that’s between a 2 and a 3, I would say him right now,” a former head coach said to Sando. “If he does it again
this year, I could see putting him as a standing 2.”
In Year 1 with Liam Coen, Lawrence was an MVP finalist, thanks to an excellent performance during the second half of the season.
Lawrence finished the 2025 season completing 61% of his passes for 4,214 yards with 41 total touchdowns -- including 32 passing -- to 14 interceptions. Among all quarterbacks, he ranked seventh in passing yards and fourth in passing touchdowns.
“Trevor took a huge jump last year,” an exec said to Sando. “I’d say he was a 2 going to a 1 at the end of the year. You saw some things that you kind of thought you saw in the draft.”
During the Jaguars' eight-game winning streak to end the regular season, in which the offense averaged almost 33 points per game, Lawrence ranked fourth in total passing yards.
He was also third in yards per pass attempt, second in passing touchdowns, and had the fifth-lowest turnover-worthy play rate. We also saw Lawrence make a lot of plays with his legs.
“Liam is a fiery guy, and it allows that to come out of Trevor, who has never been that,” an offensive coach said to Sando. “Doug Pederson was a different style guy, so you were not going to get that out of Trevor.”
This offseason, Lawrence has focused on continuing to build chemistry and rapport with his wide receivers. The continuity of being in Coen's system for a second year can provide a jumping-off point as well.
Down the stretch in 2025, the success that Lawrence and the offense experienced often began with his work pre-snap and getting that unit into correct looks. Coen has continued to see Lawrence's command at the line of scrimmage grow this offseason.
He is going to flash for windows where you go, ‘Oh, I think he is becoming the guy,’ but you are not in Year 2 anymore,” an offensive coordinator said to Sando. “This is just kind of who you are — streaky, up and down."
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Anonymous NFL execs, coaches rank and evaluate Jaguars Trevor Lawrence
