Pro Football Focus recently published an article ranking NFL second-year breakout candidates for 2022, and former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence tops the list heading into his second season with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It’s been well documented that Lawrence struggled at times during his rookie season, completing 59.6 percent of his passes for 3,641 yards and 12 touchdowns with 17 interceptions in 17 games.
But the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft finished the season on a high note with his performance against the Indianapolis Colts in the final week of the regular season on Jan. 9, when he went 23-of-32 passing for 223 yards and threw for two touchdowns while leading his team to a 26-11 victory that eliminated the Colts from playoff contention.
Here’s what PFF’s Michael Renner wrote about Lawrence and why he is ranked No. 1 on the list of second-year players who could be poised to break out in 2022:
File this one under “duh.” The most-hyped quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck is a popular pick to take the kind of second-year leap we’ve seen from the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow in recent years at the position.
Lawrence showed in his rookie season why he was considered to be in such rarified air as a prospect. It just took until Week 18 for him to do so. In a meaningless game for the Jaguars, but one that meant everything to the Indianapolis Colts‘ playoff aspirations, Lawrence didn’t flinch.
He delivered the second-highest passing grade any quarterback achieved against the Colts’ defense all season, trailing only Lamar Jackson’s absurd Week 5 outing when he went for 442 yards and four scores on 37-of-43 passing. Lawrence himself went 23-of-32 for 223 yards and two scores. That stat line would have even been better were it not for four drops from his receivers.
Those troubles were all too common a theme for Lawrence as a rookie. His pass-catchers dropped 37 passes in 2021 — the second most of any quarterback in the NFL — for a total of 226 air yards lost. With an improved receiving corps and a much-improved coaching staff this fall, the Jaguars won’t have to wait until Week 18 to see that kind of play from Lawrence in Year 2.
Lawrence’s former Clemson and current Jaguars teammate, Travis Etienne, also made PFF’s list of second-year breakout candidates and is ranked as the final player on the list at No. 15.
The 25th overall pick in last year’s draft, Etienne suffered a Lisfranc injury in the Jaguars’ second preseason game last year and had to undergo surgery, forcing him to miss his entire rookie campaign.
The running back was fully cleared for organized team activities this offseason, and by all accounts, he showed off the traits that enticed the Jaguars to take him with a first-round pick – including his top-end speed.
Here’s what Renner had to say about Etienne:
Etienne’s inclusion doesn’t need much of an explanation. He didn’t play a single snap in 2021 after suffering a Lisfranc injury in the preseason. Now, he goes to an offense in desperate need of ways to create big plays. The Jaguars had all of 90 plays go for 15-plus yards last season, more than only the Texans. Etienne, on the other hand, was the single best big-play threat at the running back position in college football over the course of his career at Clemson.
The only player with more runs of 15-plus yards over that span than Etienne’s 89 was Jonathan Taylor — and it took Taylor 241 more carries to do so (925 vs. 624). The Jaguars need more explosiveness in 2022, and Etienne will be there to provide it.
–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
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