A Jersey Guy: Will Trevor Lawrence be a generational QB?
Everything suggests that Trevor Lawrence will be the next great National Football League quarterback, in the mold of Payton Manning, John Elway, Dan Marino and Oliver Luck, former first round choices who met or exceeded expectations.
Lawrence was anointed as a can't miss Top pick of the 2021 draft three years ago, when he stepped into the national spotlight as a freshman at Clemson.
But it might take time.
Jacksonville has the first pick in the draft for a reason--theJaguars were 1-15 a year ago--and Urban Meyer is the new coach for the same reason.
One of the more interesting developing story lines of the NFL season next fall will be how Meyer and Lawrence mesh and how they perform in the new spotlight of the NFL, which is a far different situation than college football.
Will Meyer, with national championship trophies at Ohio State and Florida, evolve as the next Bill Belichick or the next Nick Saban as an NFL head coach?
Lawrence appears to be carrying the proper mental components for the challenge, although he caused a stir last week when he told Sports Illustrated that football was not the end game for him, he was not consumed by a desire to win at any cost.
Naturally the twitter world when viral, which was to be expected.
Thankfully for almost everyone involved, this looks like the new normal, with the NFL draft being held in Cleveland rather than in (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell's basement.
And there might even be decent crowds as part of the flavor of what has become one of the NFL's biggest block parties every year.
Lawrence could also be the start of an unprecedented four straight QB picks if Jacksonville, the Jets, the 49ers and the Falcons all go in that direction, which has been projected in many NFL fantasy drafts the past few weeks.
With Lawrence leading the way, along with BYU's Zach Wilson, Ohio State's Justin Field, Alabama's Mac Jones and North Dakota State's Trey Lance, the NFL could have an unprecedented four consecutive QB's chosen with the first four picks.
This, of course, also includes the possibility of someone out of the Top 4 (Jaguars, Jets, 49ers and Falcons trades up to get a QB.
What makes this year more intriguing is that the final NFL evaluations have been forced to be made on Pro Day workout days on campuses, rather at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, which was cancelled because of CoVld issues.
Which possibly means more decisions made on personal issues rather than analytics by the stop watch gang, who base more decisions on the analytics.
The NFL has seen Kansas City's Patrick Mahones and Baltimore's Lamar Jackson and Houston's Desean Jackson emerge as the new generation of QB-Leaders.
Lawrence and Company could be the next wave as the Tom Brady (maybe?) and the Aaron Rogers fade slowly, although it would be foolish to overlook either one of those QBs until they officially retire.
This week, however, it should be Trevor Lawrence in the spotlight dance.