Trevor Lawrence went back for his first snap in an NFL uniform, held the ball way too long and took a sack.
The good news? It has to be uphill from there.
Saturday was the much-anticipated preseason debut of Lawrence, the first pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars and one of the highest-graded prospects ever. And yes, despite Urban Meyer’s weird mind games trying to pump up Gardner Minshew II, Lawrence started on Saturday night against the Cleveland Browns.
It wasn’t a debut that will go straight to Canton, but it wasn’t bad.
Trevor Lawrence has a few highlight throws
After Lawrence took the sack to start his night, the Jaguars faced a third-and-9. Then Lawrence unleashed a pass that showed he belongs in the NFL, not that that’s ever been in doubt.
With the blitz about to get him, Lawrence threw a rope to Marvin Jones Jr. for the first down.
Even though it was just 10 yards, that’s a great throw. There’s no questioning Lawrence’s arm talent.
That first drive stalled when Lawrence, fading back to avoid the rush, threw incomplete on third down. That wasn’t Lawrence’s best moment. But it was his first NFL action. We’ll cut him some slack.
Lawrence had a long completion
On the Jaguars’ second drive, Lawrence held it again too long on a play-action pass. Surely the offensive coaches will be in Lawrence’s ear about eliminating what’s not there for him and making a quick decision. A few times he was indecisive.
But then on the next play, Lawrence had a lot of time to throw and fired a bullet to Jones for 35 yards.
Any reasonable NFL quarterback needs to be able to make that throw with that amount of time in the pocket, but the accuracy was pretty good. And it was a great catch by Jones, too.
Lawrence went 6-of-9 for 71 yards. Minshew took over with 8:37 left in the second quarter, after Lawrence got two series. Lawrence held the ball too long at times, missed badly on one short incompletion and looked like he might have had a few jitters. That’s not unusual for any rookie. But the good news is Lawrence also showed why the NFL has been waiting for him for a few years.
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