From Crossed Fingers (@iTylen):
Tylen, I think there are two reasons. First, the legend of Trevor Lawrence has grown since 2018 and, even within a stacked 2021 draft class, he’s been seen as different, and separate, from the pack of quarterbacks to come into the league. And, second, because things were such a mess in Jacksonville last year (and he handled that mess with poise and class), I think he is getting, and it’s fair to give him, the benefit of the doubt.
Where you are right is that Wilson didn’t prove much more than Lawrence did last fall.
Wilson, as we dug through in the June 20 MMQB, tried to take on too much as a rookie, eventually developed a bit of the case of the yips, got shut down, then found his way to the other side (check out that Monday column to see how coaches are adjusting how they’re working with him now). Lawrence, conversely, was relatively steady, but opponents, without question, felt like he didn’t see the field as fast as most thought he would, and the Jags found his learning curve coming from the Clemson offense to be steeper than expected.
Both are in better places than they were a year ago. Wilson’s got a GM (Joe Douglas) and coach (Robert Saleh) who are deeply invested in him, with two first-round picks and a big-ticket free agent on the offensive line, two promising second-year skill players on board (Michael Carter, Elijah Moore), and two top-40 picks (Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall) at the skill spots. Lawrence got a head coach (Doug Pederson) who played the position in the league, has a great rep for quarterback coaching and hired a staff tailored to aid in his development.
So, yeah, Lawrence gets a little more hype now because he’s . But I think both are positioned to make leaps this year. We’ll see if either, or both, can do it.
