Urban Meyer discusses thought process on naming a starting QB
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By: Tyler Nettuno
Training camp in Jacksonville has hammered home what many expected to be the case beforehand: Trevor Lawrence is the Jaguars’ best option at quarterback. But if that’s an opinion coach Urban Meyer shares, it’s not one he has publicly stated. According to Meyer and the staff, it’s very much still an open competition, presumably between Lawrence and Gardner Minshew II.
After a rough start to the week, Lawrence closed it out with some very nice throwing sessions. Though Meyer has been positive when it comes to Lawrence’s progress, he still needs to see proof of the trait most associated with elite quarterbacks in the NFL: a penchant for winning.
“What makes Tom Brady the greatest quarterback of all time is he finds ways to win,” Meyer said after practice this week, according to NFL.com. “Whether he’s a Buccaneer or with the New England Patriots, he finds a way to win. I’ve had quarterbacks like that — they win.
“I don’t know if we’re going to tell in a year. He throws a nice ball, that makes him one of about 60 to 70 quarterbacks. Does he win games?”
One would assume that just from a pure talent perspective, it would make sense to give Lawrence experience now, especially on a young team that won just one game a year ago. But Meyer doesn’t seem to have the patience for a long-term rebuild, so you can expect that whoever wins the job will be the guy the staff thinks is best suited to win right now.
“No, oh no,” Meyer said. “If he’s not the quarterback we think we can win with — we haven’t made that decision. It’s not a four-year plan. It’s not fair to these players. It’s a one-year plan.”
This is an understandable approach, but it’s still hard to believe this isn’t smoke and mirrors coming from Meyer. Though Minshew has demonstrated some consistency and has had far from a bad camp, he doesn’t possess the innate abilities that Lawrence does. Simply put, there are throws Lawrence can make that Minshew cannot.
The preseason should be a great opportunity for Lawrence to show some of the intangibles that Meyer is talking about. Though Jacksonville may aim to preserve his health considering he’s the likely Day 1 starter, he should still see plenty of live-action reps with the first team. Putting Lawrence’s feet to the fire in a real game (albeit during the preseason) could help answer some of these unanswered questions.
With more than a month remaining before the start of the NFL season, Lawrence has a lot of time to progress even further. And though Meyer is staying mum on the quarterback battle, it would be a minor upset if Minshew (or anyone else other than the first overall pick) takes the field against Houston on Sept. 12.
