Trevor Lawrence Proves We Overuse The Term 'Generational Talent' in Sports

This past Monday night, the Jacksonville Jaguars start to the 2024 NFL season went from bad to absolutely embarrassing. The Jaguars were blown out in Buffalo 47-10, marking the team's franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence's eight straight loss at the teams starter dating back to last season.

After a promising finish to his second season in 2022, Lawrence led the Jaguars from a 4-8 record to a winning record and AFC South division title, as well as orchestrated one of the greatest comebacks in NFL playoff history by erasing a 27-0 deficit against the Los Angeles Chargers in the wildcard round.

Heading into last season, expectations were sky-high for the Jags and through the first 11 games, both the team and Lawrence were thriving, as they sat with a record of 8-3. Heading into a Week 13 Monday Night Football matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals who were without their star quarterback Joe Burrow, with a win, the Jaguars would have sat in the AFC's top seed heading into the final five games of the season. Then, everything unraveled. Not only did they lose that game, but in hindsight, it seems like they lost everything they had been building toward. Lawrence left with an injury that seemed far worse than it ended up being, but since that moment, he hasn’t been the same.

Below are some stats provided by Statmuse which don't even include his abysmal 59.4 completion %

Since his freshman year at Clemson in 2018, when he led the Tigers to a National Championship, Lawrence was hailed as the next great NFL quarterback, the next “generational talent” that struggling franchises should be preparing to #TankForTrevor before he would declare for the 2021 NFL Draft where he would be the most obvious number one overall pick since Andrew Luck in 2012. However, due to his recent struggles, serious questions are emerging about whether all the hype was warranted, and In my opinion, I think he is living proof that we’ve reached a point in sports media where the term "generational talent" is being used a bit too much for my liking.

This loss to Buffalo wasn’t just any other loss blowout loss, it showed in front of the whole country that Lawrence's progress has stalled and the Jaguars need to start thinking about major changes. However, don't think Lawrence is going anywhere anytime soon as Jacksonville signed Lawrence to a five-year, $275 million contract this offseason, with over $200 million guaranteed. This franchise is committed to the 2021 first overall pick for the foreseeable future and must do something their quarterback heading in the right direction sometime soon, personally, I think it has to start with changes in the front office and sidelines.

Obviously, Lawrence hasn’t played well at all this season, but he shouldn’t take all the blame. Mistakes and poor execution have defined this team early on in the year, and head coach Doug Pederson could do a better job of positioning Lawrence and the offense for success, while General Manager Trent Baalke has not brought in the proper personnel to support their quarterback.

All that said, despite all the hype may garner before a draft and especially for quarterbacks, their success will for the most part come down to the situation they land in. While I’m not ready to label Lawrence a bust just yet, it’s clear that he’s not the generational talent we once believed him to be.