NFL Top 100: Bears' Justin Fields Strangely Ranks Above Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence made his NFL Top 100 debut this week, coming in a good bit lower than many people expected at No. 96.
As a result of his lower slot, Lawrence is behind a wave of surprising names on the top-100. Perhaps the most surprising, though, is Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Field, who came in at No. 86 overall despite being behind Lawrence in virtually every major passing stat.
"Despite taking a league-high 55 sacks in 2022, Fields showed significant improvement in his second season with the Bears. The No. 11 overall pick in the 2021 draft displayed flashes that he can be a dual-threat quarterback. Fields was the first QB with 1,000-plus rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns in a single season, per NFL Research. His 2022 breakout performance ends with his Top 100 debut," NFL.com said.
Fields, the No. 11 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, has been compared to Lawrence dating back to high school. The former five-star recruit and Ohio State star had an encouraging 2022, too, completing 60.4% of his passes for 7.1 yards per attempt with 2,242 yards, 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also added 1,143 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.
But in head-to-head comparisons with Lawrence, Fields comes in second in completion percentage, passing yards, CPOE, EPA/Attempt, interception %, quarterback rating, sack %, AY/A, NY/A, ANY/A, and QBR.
In 17 starts in 2022, Lawrence completed 387 of 584 passes for 4,113 yards and 25 TDs. His 387 completions were the most in a single season in franchise history and his five rushing TDs were tied with Garrard for the most in single-season franchise history.
Lawrence joined Bengals QB Joe Burrow and Bills QB Josh Allen as the only players in the NFL with 25-plus passing TDs and at least five rushing TDs. Against the Titans in Week 14, Lawrence set a career-high with 368 yards passing and was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance.
The second-year quarterback totaled four 300-yard passing games and orchestrated three comebacks of 17-plus points, including a comeback from behind 27-0 in the postseason against the Chargers.
