Jordan Palmer spent part of his brief career as a backup for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but he never made an NFL start. Instead the former quarterback found a different calling: tutoring the next generation of star passers.
During his career as a quarterback consultant and trainer, Palmer’s clients have included Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson, and the Jaguars’ own Trevor Lawrence.
On Wednesday, Palmer joined The Rich Eisen Show and gushed about the 27-point comeback that his former protégé pulled off in the playoffs.
“Trevor’s a guy, he just doesn’t — emotion’s not part of his game,” Palmer said. “There’s been some great quarterbacks where the emotion is what caused them to throw that pick. They wanted it too bad, or they were so pissed about the last drive that they forced something. … Trevor just doesn’t bring emotion into it. He can throw three picks or four picks or be down 21 or whatever, it’s just second-and-4.”
Lawrence, 23, threw four interceptions in the first half of the Jaguars’ Wild Card Weekend game against the Los Angeles Chargers in January. His nightmarish start buried the Jaguars in a 27-0 hole, but the second-year quarterback led his team back with four touchdown passes to win, 31-30.
It was the cherry on top of a great year for Lawrence, who struggled during his rookie season. Palmer told Eisen that he believes that rough first season will prove to be good for Lawrence in the long run.
“Before last season, he was 68-3 or something stupid between high school and college,” Palmer said. “He had stability in high school with his coach. He had stability with Dabo [Swinney] for three years at Clemson. And then he was in arguably the most unstable environment that a young franchise quarterback … has had to live through with Urban [Meyer] and all the stuff that went on down there.
“That year will be as valuable as any, because we don’t really know who we are until we fail. We can believe things, but until we really fail — whether it’s our fault or a combination of elements — we don’t really know who we are. … I thought that was an invaluable year for him to go through.”
Lawrence finished his rookie season as the league leader in interceptions. In his second season, he threw 25 touchdowns with eight interceptions and earned Pro Bowl honors.
