Trevor Lawrence Is Popular Choice on Most-to-Prove Lists

The Jacksonville Jaguars' quarterback is entering his 5th NFL season with plenty of pressure.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) falls back as Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen watches during the Jacksonville Jaguars’ mandatory minicamp Tuesday June 10, 2025 at the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] / Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Over Trevor Lawrence’s first four NFL seasons, a bevy of reasons have surfaced to explain less-than-ideal results. Coaching changes, injuries, offensive line issues and even defensive schemes have taken turns answering the question as to why Lawrence hasn’t reached the elite level expected from No. 1 overall franchise quarterbacks.

This year figures to serve as the season all those explanations evaporate. That’s why Lawrence is front and center among NFL players with the most to prove in 2025.

“Lawrence is coming off his worst season since his rookie campaign,” wrote Zoltan Buday, a senior analyst for Pro Football Focus. “He ranked in the top 15 among NFL quarterbacks in PFF overall grade in his second and third seasons in the league but placed only 19th in 2024 (76.8).

The quarterback briefly matched Joe Burrow as the league’s highest-paid player last June, when Lawrence signed a five-year, $275-million contract extension. As a result, really the only way to reduce pressure on the quarterback is to win games, ironically.

Liam Coen knows it. Another former No. 1 overall selection, Baker Mayfield, was in a similar situation a year ago when Coen took the reins of the Buccaneers’ offense.

Mayfield loved playing for Coen because the quarterback enjoyed the best season of his career in their lone year together with the Buccaneers. Last year, Mayfield hit career highs in passing yards, touchdown passes and passer rating, leading Tampa Bay to an NFC South title and first-round playoff berth.

Buday said one step Lawrence can take toward duplicating some of Mayfield’s results is availability.

“On top of his performance not matching his previous seasons,” he wrote, “2024 was also the first instance of Lawrence missing significant time due to injuries. While the Clemson product reached at least 1,000 snaps in each of his first three seasons, he logged only 536 last season.”

Those 536 snaps, however, were his first with Brian Thomas as one of his targets. And now that the Jaguars have paired Travis Hunter with Thomas, the Jaguars arguably have more explosive playmakers than Tampa Bay’s roster offered a year ago.

In Tampa last year, Bucky Irving wound up with most of the snaps behind Mayfield, ahead of Rachaad White, and the rookie led the team in rushing. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin battled injuries but still helped the Bucs to the postseason.

The Jaguars not only feature Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby, they also drafted speedy Bhayshul Tuten. Jacksonville also released tight end Evan Engram but the Jaguars have high hopes for Brenton Strange – who’s potentially more explosive than Tampa Bay’s Cade Otton. If the new-look Jacksonville offensive line can hold up, pressure on Lawrence might be more evenly distributed across the offense.

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