A lackluster performance on Monday night followed by an unsolicited email to PFT from a former NFL offensive coordinator has brought pre-draft comments made by Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence back into focus.
Said the former offensive coordinator: “[Lawrence] does not play the game with a passion…..when first drafted by the Jags, he did mention that football was not his priority in life, and despite that generous, and undeserved, second contract, he definitely plays like football is not a priority. [H]is play does not parallel his skill set, don’t see the leadership, the emotion, the excitement, and going through the motions and taking the weekly check are disservices to his teammates, the organization and the fans.”
The Lawrence comments in question landed before the 2021 draft. And Lawrence didn’t say football isn’t his “priority in life.”
Instead, he said this: “It’s not like I need this for my life to be OK. I want to do it because I want to be the best I can be. I want to maximize my potential. Who wouldn’t want to? You kind of waste it if you don’t. . . . It’s hard to explain that because I want people to know that I’m passionate about what I do and it’s really important to me, but . . . I don’t have this huge chip on my shoulder, that everyone’s out to get me and I’m trying to prove everybody wrong,” Lawrence said. “I just don’t have that. I can’t manufacture that. I don’t want to. . . . I think that’s unhealthy to a certain extent, just always thinking that you’ve got to prove somebody wrong, you’ve got to do more, you’ve got to be better.”
Lawrence later addressed the comments in a three-part tweet.
“It seems as if people are misreading my sentiment,” Lawrence said. “I am internally motivated — I love football as much or more than anyone. It is a HUGE priority in my life, obviously. I am driven to be the best I can be, and to maximize my potential. And to WIN. I have a lot of confidence in my work ethic, I love to grind and to chase my goals. You can ask anyone who has been in my life. That being said, I am secure in who I am, and what I believe. I don’t need football to make me feel worthy as a person. I purely love the game and everything that comes with it. The work, the team, the ups and downs. I am a firm believer in the fact that there is a plan for my life and I’m called to be the best I can be at whatever I am doing.”
With Lawrence signing a contract carrying a new-money average of $55 million in the offseason and with the Jaguars at 0-3 and reeling from a 47-10 blowout in Buffalo, now is the time for Lawrence to reach a higher level of performance and leadership. Now is the time to prove to everyone tha football is his priority, and that he can and will earn his money.
Now is the time for Lawrence to attach a chip on his shoulder.
As Devin McCourty and I explained on Tuesday’s PFT Live, many players are motivated by actual or perceived slights. Devin admitted that he was driven for years by Boston College thinking he wasn’t as good as his twin brother, Jason.
Others have generated a career of ambition from external doubt. Tom Brady’s commercial for his new Fox job focused on people telling him what he couldn’t do, for example.
It might not be healthy, but it’s normal for high-level athletes. And it’s very hard for someone who doesn’t have that unhealthy but hardly uncommon drive to compete with someone who does.
