The Jacksonville Jaguars may not make the NFL playoffs this season, but they have plenty of hope for the future.
The biggest reason for hope is quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who is now in his second pro season and is starting to emerge as the player people envisioned him becoming.
In fact, according to Pro Football Focus’ rating system, he has been the highest-graded QB in the entire league over the second half of this season.
That means, at least according to that rating system, he has been playing better than men such as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow.
Trevor Lawrence: 91.8 PFF Grade during the second half of the season
Highest among all QBs 👀 pic.twitter.com/LyEiJsIqXX
— PFF (@PFF) December 23, 2022
Lawrence Has Shown Significant Improvement This Season
In 2021, many felt that perhaps Lawrence was a flash in the pan and that he wouldn’t be that good at the NFL level after throwing for just 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions while registering a very poor 71.9 passer rating.
But so far this season, he is up to 3,749 passing yards, 24 touchdown passes, just seven interceptions and a 96 passer rating.
Lawrence may not be as much of a running threat as a few other signal-callers, particularly Allen and Lamar Jackson, but he does have 290 rushing yards and five touchdowns this year while gaining 5.2 yards per rush attempt.
On Thursday, he led Jacksonville to a 19-3 thrashing of the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in Bergen County, N.J., and although he didn’t throw a single touchdown pass, he did complete 20 of 31 passes while scoring a touchdown on the ground.
Trevor Lawrence had 280 total yards, a TD and a fumble in a wet, windy ball game against a damn good defense. Loved how aggressive he was with his legs, 51 yards on the ground.
— Jordan de Lugo (@jordandelugo) December 23, 2022
The Jaguars are also hopeful for wide receivers Christian Kirk and Zay Jones and running back Travis Etienne moving forward.
With a 7-8 record, they already have a shot at reaching the postseason right now, and they’ll surely have an even better shot next year.
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