Since its inception in 2014, Mike Sando and The Athletic have polled 50 coaches and executives to list, by tier, the league's starting-caliber quarterbacks heading into the next season. To put it into perspective, only Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford have been present in every edition of this annual exercise. Is this the end-all, be-all of quarterbacking? No. But it does give those of us on the outside an inside look at how respected, or not respected, a certain quarterback is, according to those who have to gameplan against them week in and week out. One player who has been through the gamut of this list is Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Touted as possibly the best draft prospect since Andrew Luck, Lawrence had a tumultuous start to his career, navigating the Urban Meyer saga in his rookie year and not being on the same page with Doug Pederson throughout the rest of his rookie contract. But under head coach Liam Coen, Lawrence seems to have taken "a huge jump," according to those who participated in the QB Tiers List.
Where did Trevor Lawrence rank?
Lawrence ranked 16th out of 35 eligible quarterbacks in the exercise, pushing him up two spots from last year's iteration and giving him one of the final two spots in a large Tier 2, which included 13 quarterbacks. Tier 2 quarterbacks are categorized as quarterbacks who can:
- Carry his team sometimes.
- Handle pure-passing situations in doses.
- Or have other dimensions in his game that elevate him above Tier 3.
- Have a hole or two in his game.
Lawrence has shown the ability to carry his team to victory on numerous occasions, while indeed handling pure-passing situations well. The problem with Lawrence doesn't lie in his physical gifts; it's his consistency. That even shows with the voting this year, as Lawrence snagged a Tier 1 vote, a tier of quarterback that is only home to four of the best quarterbacks in the game, and 23 Tier 3 votes, which is a quarterback that, more or less, requires a great team around them and maybe even lesser attempts to have their offense run at peak efficiency.
Quotes on Trevor Lawrence
"Trevor took a huge jump last year. I'd say he was a 2 going to a 1 at the end of the year. You saw some things that you kind of thought you saw in the draft."
"Man, if there's anybody that's between a 2 and a 3, I would say him right now," a former head coach said. "If he does it again this year, I could see putting him as a standing 2."
"Liam is a fiery guy, and it allows that to come out of Trevor, who has never been that. Doug Pederson was a different style guy, so you were not going to get that out of Trevor."
"He is going to flash for windows where you go, 'Oh, I think he is becoming the guy,' but you are not in Year 2 anymore. This is just kind of who you are — streaky, up and down."
"If everyone around him does their job at a high level, he has a chance, but he is never going to be able to carry anything for extended periods of time."
