Did Jacksonville fire the wrong person? Former NFL scout still blames Trevor Lawrence

Trevor Lawrence is amongst the lowest rated quarterbacks in the NFL, and he has made himself even less of a desired starter this season.

If anyone thinks Urban Meyer was the problem in Jacksonville, they don’t know football. 

Lawrence has had the lowest average-yards-per-completion of any starter in the NFL this season (5.7 yards). Translation = Lawrence can not push the ball downfield with any consistency.

Pre-draft, I said he would struggle in the NFL because he could not throw intermediate timing routes (click here to see article). 

At Clemson, he tended to throw ball at the intermediate route level when the receivers had already made their breaks or once they were open. A quarterback can’t do that in the NFL. Quarterbacks have to be able to throw the ball before receivers break off the route, or else they will throw a lot of interceptions. 

This is why Lawrence is tied for throwing the most interceptions in the league (14) this season. To put this in perspective, Zach Wilson (who I said would be an interception machine in the NFL pre-draft), has thrown 11. 

All the drama surrounding Meyer, who has fired, is a very convenient smokescreen for Lawrence. Meyer is a very easy scapegoat for Lawrence supporters to point at. Now for yet another off-season, we all get to hear all this hogwash that Lawrence is still this elite talent who just “needs the right coach.” 

I am not so sure Jacksonville will be able to lure in some hot big-name offensive coordinator who wants this job. It is going to take Jacksonville (a team that has won 13 games combined in the last four seasons) years to build a decent roster to surround any quarterback with. Not to mention, if any Jaguars’ head coaching candidate turns on the tape and watches Lawrence against NFL defenses, that coach will see taking the job will be career suicide. It’s a plunge that Eric Bieniemy, Josh McDaniels, Kellen Moore or Byron Leftwich will not make. 

Beyond all the hype and the golden parachute contract, the games will still need to be played. Not only has Lawrence been a disaster under center for Jacksonville this season on the field, but he has shown how openly critical he can be of coaching as well off the field. A quarterback who has played as poorly as Lawrence at the very least, should be humbly trying to learn the game with his mouth shut. Most quarterbacks would be humbled turning in poor performances week in and week out, but not Lawrence. No, Lawrence has publicly questioned play-calling and personnel decisions on top of it. Plus, he has been a vocal catalyst on getting Meyer fired talking about the drama that has surrounded Meyer and how it needed to end. Lawrence came out earlier this season and commented on a play-call on a short yardage situation, and he was very vocal about saying running back James Robinson is a “hell of a football player so I want him out there,” after Meyer had benched him (click here to see article). 

While such insubordination is maybe cute with a proven signal caller like Aaron Rodgers, it sounds asinine coming from someone as unaccomplished in the NFL as Lawrence. 

So now, not only will whoever in Jacksonville have to deal with a lack of talent on the second worst team in league, but they will have to deal with an outspoken erratic quarterback with a tendency to become insubordinate and run a coach off if things don’t go his way (who also came out in Sports Illustrated pre-draft and basically said he doesn’t give a damn if he wins or loses). 

They will also have to deal with a quarterback who brings a very herky-jerky rhythm to the offense and a guy who has not developed any chemistry whatsoever with any of his receivers. 

There is a reason why I was the only voice in America saying Trevor Lawrence was going to be a bust in the NFL (pre-draft). There is also a reason why I put a 90 percent bust rate on Trevor Lawrence. 

That is because I could see it. 

My only question is, how long is it going to take for everyone else to be able to see it? 

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He currently writes for Sports Illustrated Detroit Lions, Sports Illustrated New York Jets and he is a contributing evaluator for Draft Diamonds. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. He can be followed on Twitter @danielkellybook and his Facebook page is WHATEVER IT TAKES NFL TALK.