It’s been a quiet and slow offseason so far for the Jacksonville Jaguars. While other teams across the NFL were hiring new coaches, making trades, and spending a lot to acquire free agents, the Jaguars only did some light tinkering with their roster.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence says that’s a really good thing.
For one, Lawrence has been able to focus his offseason efforts on healing up injuries and training rather than learning a new playbook. Only a few players, like running back D’Ernest Johnson and wide receiver Calvin Ridley, will have to be brought up to speed.
“I’m not trying to learn it myself because I already know our system, but then I’m also not trying to communicate that with ten different guys,” Lawrence said Wednesday. “It’s really just a few guys that are new that you’re trying to explain, whether it’s footwork or how we run certain routes or kind of what we’re thinking.
“I can say, ‘Hey, we’re running this route, watch Zay [Jones], watch Christian [Kirk], that’s how we’re running it, and they can kind of tell you all your splits and all that stuff.’ They can help him just as much as I can, so it’s nice having that support, too, from those guys along with C.J. [Beathard] and those guys, too. Having all that makes it a lot easier to get guys up to speed, and it happens just that much faster.”
Lawrence, 23, began his NFL career under head coach Urban Meyer, but that partnership lasted less than a season. The quarterback spent the next year learning the offensive system of his new head coach Doug Pederson.
“We have so many guys that have been in the system, including myself,” Lawrence said. “You can start day one or whenever you start going against the defense, if it’s not a look, if it’s a look I don’t like for that play, you can just change it because the guys know it. Being able to start there … I think that’s where we should see the progression this year, which will put us even further ahead once we hit training camp then August and September.”
The Jaguars finished the 2022 regular season 10th in points scored and total yards.
