When the Jacksonville Jaguars selected Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, they were looking for a franchise saviour. The Jags were coming off a 1-15 season, and an astonishing 11 losing campaigns out of the previous 13. They are one of just four teams in the NFL to have never played in a Super Bowl.
Conversely, Lawrence arrived having won 34 of his 36 games in college and 52 of 54 in high school. He was supposed to bring those wins to Florida. Safe to say, that did not happen.
As a rookie, he was thrown right in and lost more games in five weeks than he had in five years. The Urban Meyer head coaching experiment was a disaster and Jacksonville managed just three wins that year. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Lawrence and the Jags' campaigns in the subsequent three years under Meyer's replacement Doug Pederson were a mixed bag that included a playoff win, but ultimately a 4-13 season saw Pederson fired.
Enter Liam Coen, longtime NFL quarterback coach and offensive coordinator who was poached from Tampa Bay in January 2025. Coen's arrival, and Lawrence's development during his tenure, have put the 27-year-old in the mix for NFL MVP and the Jags up there as Super Bowl contenders. Since the start of last season, the Jaguars have won 17 games out of 22, tied for the best regular-season record in the league.
Despite a heart-breaking final-minute defeat to Buffalo in the postseason, year one for Coen ended with the second-best record for the Jags in franchise history (13-4). Lawrence's ascension was a large part of that, but he may be getting even better - and the 4-1 Jags have started out hot. Last year, he offered the volume, but not the efficiency.
He finished sixth in passing yards (4,007) and fifth in touchdowns (29), but only 28th in completion percentage (60.9), 20th in quarterback rating (91.0) and 16th in yards per attempt (7.2). This season, he is playing at a higher level - and getting the ball downfield. After five games, Lawrence is fourth in quarterback rating (106.3), eighth in completion percentage (67.1), and fifth in yards per attempt (8.2) along with 1,174 yards (14th) and 10 TDs (tied fifth).
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