Trevor Lawrence’s Engaging Attitude Impresses his New Head Coach

Jaguars' new head coach feels former Clemson star’s experience will be beneficial in Year 2

CLEMSON, S.C. — Thanks to his old head coach being a total mess last year, Trevor Lawrence’s rookie season in the NFL was sort of an afterthought by many in the NFL.

The former No. 1 pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars had to watch as then head coach Urban Meyer made headlines for his off-the-field antics.

Lawrence’s first year in the league was not great, but it was not totally bad either. In fact, new head coach Doug Pederson, who led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl title in 2018 (2017 season), feels the former Clemson star’s experience will be beneficial to him in Year 2.

“The thing with Trevor that I really like is the fact that he played last year,” Pederson said Friday to the Jacksonville media.

Experience can go a long way for a young quarterback, especially for one who had some success in his rookie season. Lawrence’s numbers were not anything to write home about, but he did throw for 3,641 yards. He did throw 12 touchdowns and he finished the season by upsetting the Indianapolis Cots and knocking them out of playoff contention.

Do not get Pederson wrong. He understands Lawrence has work to do. He completed just 59.6 percent of his passes last year and he threw a league-high 17 interceptions.

But even those bad experiences can lead to good things in the future.

“It’s really sort of taking what he did last year and sort of building on it,” Pederson said. “It’s almost like hitting the reset button just a little bit, because this is the first time we’ve had our chance to work with him and really begin to work on the details and the fundamentals. How to be a professional, his study habits, and all those things that come with being an NFL quarterback.”

This is the first time Pederson has been able to work with Lawrence. Of course, he saw Lawrence in person back in 2018 when he visited Clemson as a guest speaker and got to watch the young quarterback in practice.

“This is not his rookie season,” the Jags’ new head coach said. “But for us, as coaches, being the first time to get our hands on him and just putting him through maybe a different set of drills, something that he hasn’t been used to in his past and really developing his talent and allowing him to showcase that on the field is sort of what I was alluding to the other day.”

The one thing that has impressed Pederson the most about his young quarterback is how engaging he is.

“The communication is pretty incredible,” Pederson said. “The things that he sees on the football field and even from the standpoint of, ‘Hey, I like this play. This is what we did last year, I like this play. I like this concept. Is there a way we can incorporate this into our offense?’ So that’s the dialogue that’s going on right now and this is the time, I think, to really embrace that and get it into our system now.”