Jacksonville Jaguars rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence has made his fair share of jaw-dropping plays this season. But he’s also had his fair share of mistakes and passes that he would like to have back, and that is evidenced by his statline. His completion percentage is just 59.7%, and he has more interceptions (eight) than passing touchdowns (seven).
But one thing that the stats don’t measure is the level of freedom Lawrence has within the offense. While most rookie quarterbacks would be restricted and limited in their ability to call pre-snap audibles and protection checks at the line of scrimmage, that hasn’t been the case for Lawrence.
According to passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Schottenheimer, Lawrence has a lot more responsibility at the line of scrimmage than most rookies do. And he has apparently handled that responsibility very well.
“I would say it’s unique for sure,” Schottenheimer said, per WJXT’s Jamal St. Cyr. “A lot of young quarterbacks I’ve been around haven’t had that autonomy, if you will. But he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to do it. When you come in and you look at the game and you see when we put him in those situations, whether it’s an alert from a run to a pass, or vice versa, or solving a protection problem, he’s right 90% of the time.”
#Jaguars QB Coach Brian Schottenheimer said that Trevor Lawrence hasn't gotten enough credit for the job he has done at the line of scrimmage.
Lawrence has full control of the offense at the line. Schottenheimer said most young QB's don't have that sort of "autonomy" pic.twitter.com/3GpecSivFs
— Jamal St. Cyr (@JStCyrTV) October 20, 2021
Quarterbacks don’t get much credit when those things go right, but it’s easy to place the blame on them when they go wrong. But according to Schottenheimer, the coaching staff has not had to limit Lawrence’s pre-snap autonomy much at all.
“It’s something that if you go the other way and you’re making a bunch of mistakes, it’s easy to pull it back,” he said. “But we haven’t had to do that and will not do that just because he’s shown the ability to handle it.”
That’s certainly an excellent sign when it comes to Lawrence’s development, and it’s not a factor that the stat sheet will make clear. The rookie looks more and more comfortable every single week, and he will likely only see more responsibilities on the field as the season progresses.
