It is the dawn of a new era for the Jacksonville Jaguars. After finishing with the worst record in the NFL in 2020, they landed the crown jewel of the 2021 draft class in Clemson quarterback, Trevor Lawrence.
Jacksonville nabbed Lawrence with the first pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, giving them a new face of the franchise under center. The team is hopeful things will turn out better this time than they have in the past with first-round quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert and Blake Bortles.
There is a lot of optimism surrounding the franchise, as they also have a new head coach in Urban Meyer. People are hoping they can help turn things around for the Jaguars sooner than later.
What can we expect from Lawrence in his first season in the NFL? Here are three bold predictions for the first overall pick in 2021.
3. Breaks Jaguars Rookie Records
As mentioned earlier, the Jaguars don’t have a great track record when it comes to selecting quarterbacks in the first round. Gardner Minshew, who was a sixth-round pick in 2019, is the record holder for most of the rookie passing records
Minshew holds the record for most wins, highest completion percentage, yards, touchdowns and quarterback rating, among other percentage and yards per attempt stats. But, those records will be shattered by Lawrence this season.
Minshew started 12 games and appeared in 14. With the new 17-game schedule, Lawrence will have even more time to rack up the stats, but he will break a majority of the records within the first 12 games of his career as Minshew did. The yardage and touchdown records he should re-write with ease as long as he remains healthy.
2. Wins Rookie Of The Year
There has never been an Offensive Rookie of the Year winner from the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, that will change this season as Trevor Lawrence will be taking home some hardware after 2021.
This is an award that has been dominated by quarterbacks in recent history. There have been six players from the position since 2010 that have won the award, including three players that went first overall; Sam Bradford in 2010, Cam Newton in 2011 and Kyler Murray in 2019.
Lawrence has a leg up on some of his fellow first-round picks, as Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Mac Jones do not have starting jobs locked down yet. Zach Wilson does, but his supporting cast isn’t as good as Lawrence’s and there have been reports of some early struggles for him in New York Jets camp.
1. Has First-Ever Losing Season
The success Trevor Lawrence has had on the football field in his life has been well documented. He went 52-2 in his high school career at Cartersville High School in Georgia, winning two state titles along the way. The success didn’t stop there.
At Clemson, Lawrence went 34-2, adding another championship to his resume in 2019 when the Tigers destroyed the Alabama Crimson Tide, 44-16. Everywhere he goes he wins and the Jaguars are hoping he will bring some of that to their franchise, but it will take some time.
This is a Jacksonville team that went 1-15 last season. It will take some time to build the roster up to be competitive, and Lawrence was the first step in that process. He will lose three times as many games in his first season in the NFL as he has lost in his entire career.
Jacksonville will show improvements, but ultimately Lawrence will suffer the first losing season of his career, going 5-12 as a rookie.
