JACKSONVILLE – The growth is real, and it matters.
Trevor Lawrence is entering his fourth NFL season – and as Head Coach Doug Pederson sees it, with experience comes important development for the Jaguars' starting quarterback.
Lawrence is maturing in what Pederson calls "the way he leads this football team."
"He's becoming the vocal leader in the locker room, on the field, in meetings; he's engaging," Pederson said this week during Week 2 of Jaguars 2024 Organized Team Activities at the Miller Electric Center.
Added offensive coordinator Press Taylor, "You see the way he communicates with the guys around him."
Taylor and Pederson each spoke to the media before Day 4 of OTAs Tuesday, praising Lawrence's growth and what Taylor called his "full-on ownership" of the Jaguars' offensive system. Lawrence will enter his third season in that system next season.
Taylor said that growth can be seen in Lawrence's performance in the non-padded, seven-on-seven and team work during this offseason period.
"These plays aren't aligned to where we're attacking a certain coverage," Taylor said. "You're seeing a little bit of growth where he is quick to find a check down and move on in a progression, because this isn't the coverage this is built for."
Pederson and Taylor on Tuesday both spoke of seeing evidence of Lawrence's growth throughout the on-field and off-field portions of this year's offseason program – and of the difference between now and when Pederson and Taylor arrived in their positions in 2022.
"When we got him three years ago, he was just learning our system and kind of quiet and just trying to go through the motions a little bit of just trying to adapt to us and get a feel for us," Pederson said. "Now he's engaging and giving us ideas. Now he's giving us suggestions and ideas and really becoming another coach, a set of eyes on the field.
"That's just his growth, that is his development as a quarterback and not changing a lot schematically. Repetition goes a long way and utilizing that repetition to benefit your football team. That's where Trevor has really taken the next step.
"It has to translate on the field, into wins and losses and touchdowns versus interceptions. But that's where I've seen the biggest growth in the few years that we've been together."
The Jaguars have been working in 11-on-11 and seven-on-seven drills since Phase 3 of the offseason program began last week. That will continue the next two weeks during the final practices of OTAs. The Jaguars' offseason program will conclude with a mandatory minicamp in mid-June.
Pederson said Lawrence's progress can be seen in "decision-making, ball coming out of his hand faster, quicker decisions, accuracy, timing." Taylor said Lawrence's development goes beyond such live work and can be seen in meetings and discussions about the offense.
"He understands what we're trying to accomplish in the offseason in terms of putting in plays," Taylor said. "So, he understand we're putting in our schemes. We're in Install Four now, the defense is Install Four. So, you see a little bit of that, and then you see the way he communicates with the guys around him: 'Hey, I need you at this depth on this spot on this timing because I'm getting to you as the fourth or third or first read, so I need a little bit more.'
"It's kind of trying to get him to take over more and more and more. I think that's coming naturally for him. Personally, Year Three in the system, Year Four in the NFL working with young guys around him. Understanding what communication each guy needs is a big part of playing quarterback."
Pederson, who played quarterback in 10 NFL seasons, said the timing of Lawrence's growth isn't unusual.
"I learned this back when I went to Green Bay as a player under Mike Holmgren [in 1996],'' Pederson said. "It takes three to four years. It takes that time to develop into the quarterback that you want to become or you want for your team. And it's just not an overnight deal. It's not a plug-and-play deal.
"Some teams, some guys are going to have success, but there is that just understanding the game and learning the game and studying the game. For Trevor, he's now into that third year with us, and so that part I think for us is the encouraging part as an offensive staff and just myself now going into that third year.
"This is kind of this jump year that he can have moving forward."
