Urban Meyer has effusive praise for Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence
Urban Meyer’s brief tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars turned out to be a complete football disaster, but he still sees great things ahead for their young quarterback he coached — perhaps even a future enshrinement in Canton.
Appearing on the CBS Sports All Things Covered Podcast on Tuesday, Meyer said that Lawrence “might be a Hall of Famer someday” because he is “that good.”
“They did a really good job in free agency this year,” added Meyer. “But to me, it’s a quarterback sport, and when you get a killer like Trevor Lawrence … you got a chance.”
Meyer was Lawrence’s first NFL coach during his rookie season in 2021, and everything about it went wrong. Lawrence went through some early struggles while the Jaguars won just two of the 13 games Meyer coached before he was fired. His brief stop with the Jaguars was full of turmoil and scandal, as well as terrible football on the field.
With Meyer out of the picture and a proven NFL head coach in Doug Pederson brought in to help stabilize things, the Jaguars went through an incredible one-year turnaround that saw them go from the NFL’s worst team to the AFC South champions. They also beat the Los Angeles Chargers in the wild-card round before seeing their season come to an end in Kansas City in the divisional round.
While the Jaguars spent significant money in free agency and had the luxury of the No. 1 overall pick in the draft (Travon Walker), it was Lawrence’s rapid progression that really helped drive things.
After throwing only 12 touchdowns to 17 interceptions (most in the league) as a rookie, Lawrence threw 25 touchdowns and ran for five more in his second season, while tossing just eight interceptions.
It is probably too soon to start fitting Lawrence for his gold jacket, but anytime you select a quarterback with the top pick, especially one with as much hype as Lawrence entered the NFL with, there is an expectation for greatness. He may never have reached that level with Meyer, but Pederson certainly helped him find his footing in the NFL.
Meyer added he would have liked to have done some things differently during his tenure in Jacksonville, and he is not currently interested in a return to coaching.
