Advertisement

Urban Meyer finally announces QB Trevor Lawrence will start Week 1 for Jaguars

liz roscher
Staff writer
·2 min read
37

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer finally announced what everyone with two eyes and a brain has known for weeks: Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, 2021's first overall draft pick, will be the Jags' Week 1 starter .

The Jaguars deployed on Wednesday a majestic announcement graphic on Twitter just minutes later, which makes you wonder whether they also had one made up for Gardner Minshew.

Meyer had been cagey about this decision for weeks despite it being extremely obvious that Lawrence should be the starting quarterback. Just two weeks ago, Meyer looked borderline silly saying that Lawrence and Minshew, last year's QB1, were competing for the starting job. Minshew led the Jaguars to an NFL-worst 1-15 record last season, which is the reason Lawrence is even on this team to begin with.

Not that 2020 was all Minshew's fault, but Meyer and the Jaguars didn't take Lawrence No. 1 overall for him to sit on the sideline while Minshew plays meaningful downs.

Despite this choice being a no-brainer, Lawrence's preseason performance hasn't been great. He has struggled at times, completing 20 of 32 passes and taking three sacks. Here's what Yahoo Sports' Eric Edholm had to say about Lawrence's last preseason game in his recent update on the NFL's newest quarterbacks:

Lawrence often threw short and late and didn't do much deep; his longest completion was 18 yards. The Saints knocked away at least three Lawrence and pressured him on nearly every snap. Although he got some rhythm going on his final drive of the half, Lawrence took a sack to make it a longer field-goal try (which doinked off the upright).

While Lawrence has struggled a bit, he hasn't been helped by the offense, which has looked weak. There's a lot of improving for the Jags to do, but at least now they have Lawrence under center.