How do former Clemson stars Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson stack up among the NFL’s top signal-callers?

This week, one national outlet ranked all 32 starting quarterbacks in the league ahead of the 2023 NFL season and slotted Lawrence as a top-10 quarterback while placing Watson in the top 15.

Pro Football Focus’s quarterback rankings have Lawrence as the No. 8 starting quarterback in the NFL heading into the upcoming campaign.

Lawrence is coming off a Pro Bowl campaign in 2022, when the 2021 No. 1 overall draft pick had a 66.3 percent completion percentage, 4,113 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns and eight interceptions while leading the Jacksonville Jaguars to the AFC South title and a playoff victory in his second NFL season.

“Lawrence arrived last season,” PFF’s Sam Monson wrote. “It took him half the year to get the Urban Meyer residue off, but from Week 9 onward, only Burrow and Mahomes earned a higher PFF grade. Billed as a truly generational talent when he was drafted, Lawrence showed that ability in 2022, and the Jaguars have continued to surround him with talent this offseason.”

Watson, meanwhile, checks in at No. 13 in PFF’s quarterback rankings.

Watson made his long-awaited return to the field last season after sitting out the entire 2021 season and then serving an 11-game suspension to begin 2022 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. In six games with the Cleveland Browns, he completed 58.2 percent of his passes for 1,102 yards and seven touchdown passes with five interceptions.

The three-time Pro Bowler now heads into his first full season with the Browns. He was traded from the Houston Texans to the Browns in March 2022 before receiving a fully guaranteed five-year contract worth $230 million.

“Maybe the hardest player to rank on the list, Watson has one of the widest ranges of outcomes in the NFL,” Monson wrote. “He finished 2022 with just a 55.3 overall PFF grade after returning from suspension and didn’t noticeably improve as one does if they are just shaking off the rust. In his last full season with Houston (2020), he earned a 92.5 PFF grade and was one of the best quarterbacks in the game. I have no earthly idea how good Watson will be in 2023, and neither does anybody else.”

It’s no surprise that two-time Super Bowl MVP and two-time NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs tops PFF’s quarterback rankings.

Following Mahomes on PFF’s list is Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills at No. 2, with Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers and Aaron Rodgers now of the New York Jets rounding out the top five.

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