Trevor Lawrence, Clemson Tigers. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
The Jacksonville Jaguars need to tank for Trevor Lawrence, straight up.
Losing is never fun, but it’s something the Jacksonville Jaguars franchise has grown accustomed to for the last decade-plus. Outside of the magical 2017 Sacksonville defense, what does North Florida’s professional football team have to show for itself. The ghastly two-toned helmets are gone and Duval County might lose its team in a few years if the team doesn’t turn itself around.
Though we love Gardner Minshew as a starting quarterback and everything he personifies, the Jaguars have to understand he’s not going to be the white knight rockin’ jorts to keep the team in Jacksonville. If they want their knight in shining armor and not recurring ballads of Sir Blake Bortles, the Dark Knight of Garbage Time, the Jaguars need to tank for Trevor Lawrence in 2020.
The hype on the Clemson Tigers junior quarterback is real. He has the chance to be the best NFL quarterback prospect since John Elway came out of Stanford back in 1983. Already, he’ll be the best since Andrew Luck came out of Stanford in 2012 and might surpass Peyton Manning coming out of Tennessee in 1998 if Lawrence’s junior season goes according to plan.
Would tanking for Trevor be shameless? Well, it wouldn’t be the most regrettable to happen in Duval County before. Every Dawg or Gator who has been to The Cocktail Party has a story.
Trevor Lawrence can be the savior the Jacksonville Jaguars are in dire need of.
It’s understandable how the act of tanking is the most counterintuitive thing you could ever do in football. If you don’t play hard, you’ll either get hurt or put terrible stuff on tape. Either way, it doesn’t end well for the player in his next NFL venture. As for the coaching staff, losing on purpose is the quickest way out of a job. They’re trying to win every game, too.
All that aside, Lawrence is the passing talent worth doing a tongue-in-cheek tank job for. The 2011 Indianapolis Colts were deplorably bad. Yes, it did cost head coach Jim Caldwell and general manager Bill Polian their jobs, but it also gave them Luck.
Admittedly, it is an absurd amount of pressure to save a franchise that looks to be inevitably on the move. Not everyone can do that, but Manning had that power in Indianapolis.
Jacksonville might be a smaller NFL market, but it is a major media market in college sports. Though he plays in the ACC, everybody in Jacksonville knows darn well what Lawrence can do with the football in his hands. If his Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney thought Deshaun Watson was Michael Jordan, that has to mean Lawrence is LeBron James, right? We can only it’s the case.
If the Jaguars are bad enough to be picking near the top of the 2021 NFL Draft, they need to do whatever is necessary to get the No. 1 pick to draft Lawrence. You’re talking about a Tony Boselli, Jalen Ramsey-level talent here, but at the most important position on the field. By year two in the NFL, he’ll already be better than Mark Brunell or David Garrard ever were for London’s Finest.
Tanking sucks for everyone involved, but Trevor Lawrence is worth it if you’re Jacksonville.
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