The National Football League has three games remaining on their second week of preseason action with the first finding the Jacksonville Jaguars visiting the New Orleans Saints today with a kickoff scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Tonight, 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, the Chicago Bears host the Buffalo Bills and tomorrow the Cincinnati Bengals are in Washington for a Monday Night Football matchup against the Commanders.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a most interesting case. Three years ago they advanced to the postseason and won an opening playoff game against Justin Herbert and his Los Angeles Chargers. It was a breakthrough campaign led by head coach Doug Pederson and his franchise quarterback, Trevor Lawrence.
I expected the Jaguars to have problems in 2023, teams that have meteoric rises from worst to the playoffs often do. In fact, Jacksonville went from back-to-back last place finishes in the AFC South Division, years in which they combined for only four wins and 30 losses, to that playoff berth and postseason win in 2022.
They did miss the playoffs the year after their playoff appearance but did not have the severe drop off we expected. In fact, their nine wins in 2023 matched their regular season victories for their playoff season the year before.
So, who are these guys?
They were good enough to win more games than they lost in a season that should have been a down year and does that mean they are going to be good in 2024?
It might have had a trend that could have projected that, but it did not materialize. Pederson and his Jacksonville squad were among the worst in the league last season with only four wins. Those results created major changes in Jacksonville, first with the firing of their head coach, he has been replaced by Liam Coen, and now a second look at their quarterback.
In the history of the NFL the top four quarterbacks by scouting evaluations coming out of college were in order; John Elway, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck and … wait for it, Trevor Lawrence.
Elway and Manning lived up to the billing with Super Bowl wins and admission to the Hall of Fame after their brilliant careers. Luck had all the look of accomplishing at the same level before injuries sidelined him early in his career.
But Lawrence?
Uh oh, did the scouts miss on him as badly as they did Tom Brady? The quarterback that results clearly indicated was the greatest of all time was still around for the New England Patriots to select in the sixth round. The only thing is, the scouts missed on Brady, but he was better than they anticipated, Lawrence is on the wrong side of that evaluation.
Since being the first pick in the 2021 draft, Lawrence has twice led Jacksonville to records among the worst in football and had a pair of nine-win seasons, which once landed his Jaguars squad in the playoffs.
Those are not exactly the credentials for a first overall pick that was considered on a par with the all-time great NFL quarterbacks before he ever played professionally.
The good news is that Lawrence is only 25 years old and still has physical abilities that generated those high assessments. The bad news is he hasn’t yet delivered.
While the Jaguars haven’t yet followed any of the common trends, my assessment is it is now or never this season for Lawrence with the Jaguars.
I’m thinking it is now, but the jury is out.