OT My Thoughts on Trevor Lawrence

[floydefisher]

“He’s not award-driven. He’s not, ‘I want to win a Super Bowl at all costs.’”

-Trevor Lawrence's Dad in Sports Illustrated

"If you are not here to be the Champion, then why the hell are you here?"

-Dusty Rhodes (Pro Wrestler) advice to an up and coming Dallas Page (as relayed in countless interviews by Dallas himself).

Yeah, I know pro wrestling is kayfabe...that's not the point here. What Dusty was trying to tell Dallas is simple: aim to be the very best period.

Whether it's being the best pro wrestler (whom the promoters give their championship belt to), or it's being the best football team (and winning the Super Bowl), you should be aiming for the top of the heap.

That Trevor Lawrence isn't driven like that is worrisome. What is going to drive him to lock himself in the film room and study tape in the offseason? What is going to drive him to train as hard as he can in workouts? What drives him when you have two minutes, and 99 yards to go to overcome a 7 point deficit when facing a defense determined to stop you?

If it's not to be the best period, why are you here?

Here's my take: unless he somehow finds the motor to drive himself, Trevor Lawrence will be a major draft bust. Perhaps the biggest NFL draft bust ever.

(I could be wrong....so feel free to bookmark this and if I am wrong you may bump this as many times as you wish and rub my face in it. )

[Xenos]

Reading the entire SI article in context, he’s not Brady or Peyton. But it probably means he’s closer to Luck and Herbert in his demeanor about football.
Edit: Trevor sounds like a more dedicated worker than Big Ben who managed to win 2 rings.

[floydefisher]

Reading the entire SI article in context, he’s not Brady or Peyton. But it probably means he’s closer to Luck and Herbert in his demeanor about football.
Edit: Trevor sounds like a more dedicated worker than Big Ben who managed to win 2 rings.

Trust me, all of the people you talk about work hella hard. You don't become successful unless you do.

That Luck couldn't bring himself to do it anymore is a good reason to retire. Herbert? We shall see.

Look at Drew Brees. Want to know the reason the Chargers gave up on him? Lack of work ethic.

Best thing that happened to Brees was Rivers getting drafted. It gave him a swift kick in the pants, and led to him doing what it took to be successful. And when he gets to the HOF, he will be the first person to tell you that.

Lawrence will find out first hand how important it will be to be driven to be the best. And he will either find it in him, or retire.

[Xenos]

Trust me, all of the people you talk about work hella hard. You don't become successful unless you do.

That Luck couldn't bring himself to do it anymore is a good reason to retire. Herbert? We shall see.

Look at Drew Brees. Want to know the reason the Chargers gave up on him? Lack of work ethic.

Best thing that happened to Brees was Rivers getting drafted. It gave him a swift kick in the pants, and led to him doing what it took to be successful. And when he gets to the HOF, he will be the first person to tell you that.

Lawrence will find out first hand how important it will be to be driven to be the best. And he will either find it in him, or retire.

I think the SI article is overblown. I did not come away thinking that Lawrence would be a bust. There's a humbleness that I appreciated.

As for Brees, the same thing could be said for Rodgers and in a way Brady. They all play better with a chip on their shoulders. If you read what Brady said in another SI article, he didn't actually take training and injury prevention as seriously until after he got injured in 2008 with the ACL tear.

[floydefisher]

I think the SI article is overblown. I did not come away thinking that Lawrence would be a bust. There's a humbleness that I appreciated.

As for Brees, the same thing could be said for Rodgers and in a way Brady. They all play better with a chip on their shoulders. If you read what Brady said in another SI article, he didn't actually take training and injury prevention as seriously until after he got injured in 2008 with the ACL tear.

Brady had the will to win, he just needed to learn how to work smarter and not just harder.

Rodgers already had the fire in him, and Jordan Love being drafted was like pouring gasoline on it.

Brees on the other hand, did not have that, and it showed in his year two regression. Once Rivers was drafted, Brees basically locked himself in the film room, and it showed the rest of his career.

Lawrence will either have that will to win, or it's going to get knocked into him, or he's gone. Simple as that.

Edit: I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't look that way from here.

[Xenos]

Here’s a good breakdown by Albert Breer on this whole situation.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/04/19/mmqb-nfl-draft-primer-20-things-to-know-offseason-workout-squabble

Trevor Lawrence has been equated to Andrew Luck a lot the last couple years—and the story he did with our own Michael Rosenberg is one more way to make the comparison for the rest of us. Here’s a quote from my discussion with Luck early in camp in 2019, just a couple weeks before he decided to retire from the NFL: “I’d put way too much of my self-worth directly into how I was performing on the football field. And then I wasn’t on the football field and I felt quite empty. It was very unhealthy, first for me, second for the relationship with my now-wife and my other relationships. The result has been the best thing that ever could’ve happened. It forced me to look in the mirror and do a character assessment, and address the things I didn’t like and then the things I did like, and then get on the same page with the people I love and respect.” Luck also said, at the time, he was continuing to challenge himself to be a better football player than he’d ever been, and “if I lose that motivation, then I think it’s time to not play.” From there, his ankle and calf acted up, he and the Colts’ trainers couldn’t get it right, and he shocked the football world by walking away. So when Lawrence says similar things now, at 21, to what Luck was saying at 29, wouldn’t that be a bad thing? Maybe. Maybe not. The Colts weren’t without fault in the Luck situation. They couldn’t do enough to keep him off the ground during a seven-year period to keep him from considering how much he wanted to do it—and I do think you could argue that if Indy could’ve done for Luck what it did for Peyton Manning in the late ’90s and early 2000s, he may be the best quarterback in football now, rather than retired. So to me, it’s good that Lawrence has considered the things it took a while for Luck to confront in his life—since before that, Luck was never shy to share that he, like Lawrence, had interests outside of the game. But I’d say it does put just a little more pressure on the Jaguars to build the right way around Lawrence, to keep his fire burning bright.

I also do think it’s fair to ask how Lawrence’s words would be received coming from any of the other quarterbacks in the class. My take on that: This isn’t a normal dude. He can say it because all he’s ever done is produce. Does that make him protected? Sure. But he’s earned that. As a prep star, he won four straight region titles, two state titles and keyed a 41-game winning streak at Cartersville (Ga.) High. He started as a freshman at Clemson, and didn’t lose until the last game of his sophomore year, won the ACC and went to the playoffs three straight years, and has won 75 of his last 78 starts (75–3!), a run stretching all the way back to his freshman year in high school. He’s the only quarterback ever to go from state champion in high school, to No. 1 recruit nationally going into college, to national champion in college, to No. 1 pick in the draft. Even John Elway, Peyton Manning and Luck, the three prospects he’s most equated with in NFL circles, didn’t have that clean a wire-to-wire run of excellence. So if this guy has demons or doubters to beat back? Chances are he’s either manufacturing them or looking too hard. Good for him for being honest—he just has to find his motivation different ways. And good for our guy Rosenberg for getting it out of him.

[PR#1]

That's strange. I never heard Brees had a poor work ethic. I heard the opposite

[21&500]

I think some concepts are being conflated unfairly

I don’t worry about TL lacking motivation, but I do question his competitive temperament

red flag for me but that alone isn’t stopping me from drafting him if I’m Jax

[Eurobolt]

There is no chance that Lawrence will live up to all HYPE he received

[Xenos]

Brady had the will to win, he just needed to learn how to work smarter and not just harder.

Rodgers already had the fire in him, and Jordan Love being drafted was like pouring gasoline on it.

Brees on the other hand, did not have that, and it showed in his year two regression. Once Rivers was drafted, Brees basically locked himself in the film room, and it showed the rest of his career.

Lawrence will either have that will to win, or it's going to get knocked into him, or he's gone. Simple as that.

Edit: I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't look that way from here.

With regards to Rodgers, are you talking about the guy who wants to host Jeopardy full time during the offseason?

Or the guy who said this?

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/enterpriseRodgers/green-bay-packers-qb-aaron-rodgers-unmasked-searching

As he reflected on the sacrifices and the slights, he wondered whether it was all worth it, and then he felt something unexpected -- not regret or fulfillment but a different sensation, like a space had opened inside of him. He thought about life and football and everything he had invested in his sport, and a jarring realization sprang into his mind.

I hope I don't just do this.

[Steve]

I think some concepts are being conflated unfairly

...

Welcome to liar's month....

This happens with players every year.

Scouting is still very subjective, which is the big part of why analytics has a lot of fans. Try and remove the arbitrary silliness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6naO8n6HsqE

Lawrence has some of the same issues guys like Elway and Farve (and other guys who never did anything did). He has stretches were he doesn't read defenses, and occasionally doesn't make reads at all. But the reason he does it is because he is the kind of athlete who can take over a college game. And Jim Kelly, Brett Farve, John Elway, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning all had stretches where they made some horrible reads, but they made amazing throws that overcame that.

Herbert just did the same thing for us. Some guys can pull it off, and some can't. At some point, Lawrence will need to do a better job of making reads and finding the open receivers, but he may never have to be amazing at it, because some guys are good enough they don't need to. Lawrence has flaws, everyone does. Can an NFL team live with them?

[Bearded14YourPleasure]

I took the whole thing to mean he’s not gonna sell himself out just to win a championship. We’ve seen it for a couple decades now in the NBA but the concept of doing whatever it takes to secure your ‘legacy’ is starting to take hold in the NFL as well. I remember LeSean McCoy after the SB talking about how of course he’s a HOFer, he’s won 2 SB. He didn’t bring up his individual stats or accomplishments just that he has 2 SB on the resume, although he didn’t bring up his 0 snaps in those 2 games for some reason.... So for me this doesn’t come off as Lawrence not being committed to the game in any way. Instead it strikes me as he’s committed to the process of building an organization and realizing that may mean he doesn’t take home all the accolades that other guys might get due to ending up in better situations. He doesn’t need to start his career like Mahomes to be successful by his own standards. Personally I think that’s a great mindset for a QB in his position.