How Mike McCoy Thinks Another Year in the Jaguars' System Will Elevate Trevor Lawrence
It is hard to ever find Jacksonvile Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence acting anything but relaxed.
But after a breakout 2022 season that saw Lawrence grow as a quarterback and leader during a memorable stretch? Lawrence is as relaxed as he may ever be.
"I think, as you saw, as the year went on, that's the way he was. I think he was very relaxed. I mean, he's relaxed all the time," Jaguars quarterbacks coach Mike McCoy said at the end of this offseason's workout program.
"But I think he went out there, and he got us out of a lot of bad plays, or might have, like, you know, like I say, do the next best thing with a play."
From Week 1 to the Jaguars' Divisonal Round loss in Kansas City, Lawrence's growth was seemingly immeasuarble. And a big reason he came as far as he did in his first year in Pederson's system and as a pupil of McCoy is for the simple reason that as he played more, he became more comfortable.
"And I think the other thing is to is understanding how certain players or certain teammates are going to run certain routes and just, you know, the more snaps you play in the system, the more comfortable you are, and you know, early in the year, it's the first time running a play live," McCoy said.
"And then by the end of the year, you've run it seven or eight times and you see multiple coverages. Now you know where to go with the ball and you can anticipate, and it's, you know, the post-snap part of it's a lot easier."
Now entering his second year in a system that he knows like the back of his hand, Lawrence is he most comfortable he has been as an NFL quarterback. For the first time in years, Lawrence isn't learning a new scheme, a new head coach, a new play-caller, or a new supporting cast.
For the first time, the zen Lawrence is able to play and not think.
“To have the same staff, to have a lot of the same players, to have that carryover, and the system [being the same], that feels good having that and being able to focus on little parts of my game instead of just making sure I got the installs and know the plan coming into practice,” Lawrence said during OTAs. “Not having that stress of just learning the playbook, I can just really focus on my game and my mechanics.”
Considering the year Lawrence had during a season where there was information being thrown at him from every corner, it is a scary thought to think about what he can accomplish in 2023. But his added comfort in the Jaguars' scheme goes beyond what he can do on the field.
Now that Lawrence is the non-Doug Pederson authoritative voice on the Jaguars' scheme, Lawrence can take leaps in one area that he couldn't focus on as much during last year's offseason: vocal leadership.
Lawrence has always been a leader, but last year's offseason and a good chunk of the regular-season saw him force his focus to his own development. He needed to after he had his rookie year completely eroded by the Urban Meyer experience. He needed to not just learn Pederson's scheme, but he needed to improve his own game.
Now that he has done that, Lawrence's focus can shift. And with that shift could come an even bigger step in Lawrence's development
"Early in the season, or early in our time and the offseason program last year, you know, he was learning the system and he was so dialed into, 'Okay, I gotta learn the system first so I can do my job first,'" McCoy said.
"And that's early in the season. That's the way it was of him making sure he was doing his job and not worrying about it. And the more comfortable he got, then it became okay, now I can speak up more because now that I'm understand more what you guys want. I can kind of help coach to a certain extent about now that I know the technique and now that I understand those things. Because his voice carries a lot of weight."
