Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz and Frank Schwab discuss Jacksonville’s offense and whether quarterback Trevor Lawrence can break through and live up to the lofty expectations. Listen and subscribe to the “Zero Blitz” podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you prefer.
Video Transcript
There’s only one thing people talk about when it comes to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Now, we’ve both been pretty harsh on Trevor Lawrence.
But, um, what’s the big thing for you with the Jacksonville Jaguars this season?
I remember the day he got drafted, and I was hosting the draft show on ESPN at the time.
And the first thing I said about Trevor Lawrence is, the Jaguars are going to disappoint Trevor Lawrence before Trevor Lawrence disappoints the Jaguars.
And then Urban Meyer was a huge failure and then Doug Peterson came in and we had a coach that we thought was competent and we started to see this promotion, but it hasn’t panned out yet.
And now I think there’s a real question there.
They’re treating the roster construction as if Trevor Lawrence has already answered all the questions and he’s a hot prospect, right?
I’ve talked a lot about the see-saw that quarterbacks have early on.
They need help and if they get paid, they should be at a level where they can help, right?
Having things around it makes it even better.
They are treating Trevor Lawrence as if he has already proven himself at the NFL level.
He is, I don’t know if that’s true or not.
That being said, I don’t necessarily love their weapons.
I don’t necessarily like their aggressive attitude.
I think Trevor Lawrence is going to be asked to do a huge amount of heavy lifting.
This is one of those rare situations, Frank, and I don’t know if this happens often.
It’s rare to see a coach that the world seems to respect and a quarterback that the world seems to respect being on a team that the world doesn’t respect.
And that says everything about the rest of Jacksonville’s roster composition, because, frankly, I think it’s a problem.
The big question mark is Trevor Lawrence, but I don’t think the Jaguars have done anything to answer that question.
II, I agree with you and think Trevor brought it upon himself.
He, he…
Basically, if you criticize Trevor Lawrence and say, “What have the Jaguars done for him?”, it’s not hard to find people to criticize you.
And if you take a step back, they’re not wrong.
So, you raised some questions here as well, who is our No. 1 receiver, I think Brian Thomas could be their first round pick, but that remains to be seen.
He’s a top-tier player, he’s a first-round rookie.
They are always hit or miss.
Guys like Gabriel Davis and Christian Kirk look pretty good to me.
No. 2, but not No. 1. Their offensive line is not great.
Their defense isn’t the type of defense where you can say, ‘Hey, Trevor, we don’t need 31 points today.’
it’s okay.
No, not yet.
So maybe they’re getting there. Tron Walker is making strides, but overall this defense isn’t great.
Now, this team is amazing.
So they need Trevor Lawrence to be great, but it’s going to be hard for him because I don’t know if he’s at that level yet and I don’t know if he has the cast around him.
So it’s a total chicken-and-egg problem, especially with, you know, Trevor Lawrence having to be paid on his rookie contract.
Where is Trevor Lawrence?
wonderful?
And are we letting him down, or is it Trevor Lawrence?
Not as good as we thought and none of this is going to help him.
I don’t know if the Jaguars have the answers yet, and I don’t know if they’ll get them this season.
This is shaping up to be a really interesting year for the Jaguars in terms of their development on all fronts.
I still don’t think they’ve done the right thing with Trevor Lawrence, but Trevor Lawrence himself, you know, wasn’t the great guy that Andrew Luck was or John Elway was.
He’s not the Joe Namath-type prospect we were hoping for.
So yeah, he’s going to have a breakout year and if he doesn’t then things are going to get really complicated for Jax.
Well, you’re right, he’s the quarterback everyone wants to make excuses for.