Why One Head Coach Thinks Trevor Lawrence's Rookie Season Reminded Him of Troy Aikman

There are a lot of ways to describe Trevor Lawrence's rookie year.

The No. 1 pick and Jacksonville Jaguars franchise quarterback faced steep challenges and the Urban Meyer tenure, ending the year with numbers nobody in their wildest imaginations predicted.

But while Lawrence's 12 passing touchdowns in 17 games have drawn him criticism from some, there are some who came way even more impressed.

Many inside TIAA Bank Field commended Lawrence for his resiliency and ability to rally the troops in an awful situation as a young quarterback, while one NFL head coach who thinks Lawrence's rookie year showed something more important than touchdowns — leadership.

"It reminds me of what one head coach said to me on Lawrence when things were particularly bad in Jacksonville last year—that the way Lawrence was handling reminded him of how Troy Aikman handled his own 1–15 rookie season, playing through what, at the time, seemed to be an impossible situation," Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer wrote this week.

The comparison to a rookie Aikman is a new one, but it isn't the first time the Jaguars have been compared to the 1989 Cowboys. The Jaguars entered the 2021 offseason with a college head coach turned NFL hopeful, though Meyer proved to be more Jimmie John's than Jimmy Johnson. They also had the No. 1 pick at quarterback and a plethora of other draft picks, much like the rebuilding Cowboys of that era.

The Cowboys famously went 1-15 in Johnson's and Aikman's rookie NFL seasons, with Aikman going 0-11 and throwing nine touchdowns to 18 interceptions. Lawrence started more games and posted mostly better numbers than Aikman, but the comparison is not one about skill sets; at least not on the field.

Instead, the comparison is about Lawrence's ability to stand tall and attempt to hold the Jaguars together. As a 21/22-year-old, Lawrence was thrown into a situation where he had to prove to be the true adult of an entire franchise. A team was put on his shoulders and no support was offered to help him carry the load.

Despite the challenges, though, there was never a complaint about Lawrence or how he attacked the season. Teammates and coaches commended him, and it is clear from Breer's reporting that it isn't just those in Jacksonville who picked up on it.

"There’s a lot of positivity in the locker room, the building, a lot of energy which has been great," Lawrence said in April. "But I’ll say, I think it’s important to just kind of learn from last year and always not necessarily think about that all the time, you don’t want to think about the bad things, but you want to use what you learned and not make the same mistakes especially as individuals, as players.

"Things that went right, went wrong, we all have things we can get better at. For me, I learned so much I wouldn’t say it’s like starting over because I’m thankful for those things I learned. I don’t want to start over. I want to keep those in my back pocket. So, stuff like that, I think it’s a good way to look at it and I think guys are doing that.”

If Lawrence can be anything like Aikman in his career, the Jaguars would clearly be thrilled. And while there is no chance of Meyer becoming Johnson, perhaps the Jaguars can keep the Cowboy's comparison at quarterback.