How an Emergency Became an Emergence
Glancing over the past several years in Jacksonville the assessment would be chaos. A looming uncertainty. Bad contracts, poor coaching and a young quarterback who was groomed to be a superstar looking like a deer in headlights. Just trying to make it work with the odds against him. Trevor Lawrence entered the NFL as a prodigy. A former number one overall recruit coming out of high school. Who would go on to win a national championship in his freshman season at Clemson. He’d follow up this season with back to back College Football Playoff appearances that saw his Clemson Tigers fall just short. After this illustrious collegiate career he was handed the reins to a decimated organization. The Jaguars selected Lawrence with their first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Lawrence would go on to have about as tumultuous of a start to his young career that he could possibly imagine. Urban Meyer was his initial coach. A scandal ridden superstar collegiate coach who had no business being in the NFL. After thirteen disastrous games Jacksonville had seen enough and put an interim coach in his place as they scoured the market for a proven commodity. That proven commodity would be Doug Pederson. As a former Super Bowl winning coach with the Eagles the hope was that his ingenuity on the offensive side of the ball would unlock something in Trevor at the NFL level. Unfortunately his tenure was riddled with mediocrity. A lack of an identity with only a single playoff win in a miraculous comeback against the Chargers in 2022. Pederson’s first season at the helm. As time wound down for Pederson the team regressed from back to back 9-8 seasons to a 4-13 record. Although the team went 4-13 in 2024 there was a beacon of light hidden in the rubble.
This beacon was the play of the Jaguars rookie receiver in 2024, Brian Thomas Jr. An electrifying deep ball receiver who was a nightmare matchup with elite size, speed, and contested catch ability. He stepped into the league and produced a near 1,300 yard season. With Pederson being fired in favor of Liam Coen there was now a chance for TLaw to take the next step with his new X-factor receiver. In the offseason the Jaguars would inexplicably trade up in the 2025 NFL Draft to land one of the nation’s top commodities to go alongside BTJ. Travis Hunter. A two way player who was branded as a superstar corner and a high end wide receiver.
As the 2025 season began there was a new found sense of optimism in Duval. The AFC South seemed wide open. The Jaguars immediately jumped out to a 4-1 start although there were many ups and downs. A bad loss to a Joe Burrowless Bengals team capped off by a late Jake Browning touchdown. A monumental comeback win on primetime against the Kansas City Chiefs. An eruption by Travis Etienne against the Niners. Everything was pretty on paper, but it seemed like a facade. Their potential franchise cornerstone Travis Hunter severely struggled to get integrated into their offense. Brian Thomas Jr looked like a shell of himself just a season ago. The rumor circulating around BTJ was that he got the yips from a preseason hit over the middle of the field. He was no longer one of the league’s best deep threats and he dropped anything near defenders. Fearing contact. What would happen next?
Back to back putrid games in which the Jaguars only mustered 19 combined points losing in both contests. It was early in the season, but it wasn’t looking great. In their blowout loss to the Rams Liam Coen finally found a way to get the ball in Hunter’s hands as he produced a career high 101 receiving yards. Moving forward maybe Travis Hunter’s emergence could salvage the team. After week 7 they were sitting at a 4-3 record with a bye week. A time to reflect and regroup after looking lost. At this point the AFC South was firmly in the grasp of the Indianapolis Colts. They had done the unthinkable with a 7-1 start behind a Daniel Jones resurgence. Jonathan Taylor was waltzing into the endzone weekly as he was on pace to be the Offensive Player of the year. There was no way the Jaguars could catch them. Adding insult to injury Travis Hunter went down with a non contact knee injury in practice during their bye week. Out for the season.
What would Liam Coen do in his first year as Head Coach of this new team? He repeatedly took accountability for offensive woes. Instead of blaming Lawrence like past Jags coaches he assumed the weight of failure. Exiting this bye week Coen set his sights on the worst team in the NFL. The Las Vegas Raiders. In what should have been an easy win the Jaguars would narrowly escape this game in overtime. It was clear the Jaguars needed another receiving option. Brian Thomas Jr had nothing going and outside of that were unsung heroes on this roster. The organization pulled the trigger on Vegas’ Jakobi Meyers. A proven second option who is as professional as they come in this league. The Jaguars would go on to lose the next game against the Texans, but a foundation was beginning to set for Jacksonville’s offense.
After this loss the Jaguars started to find a rhythm. Headlined by two former Nittany Lions. Parker Washington went from an afterthought to the team’s leading receiver overnight. Tight end Brenton Strange returned from injury and re-cemented himself as one of Trevor’s favorite targets. Lawrence began to spread the ball around and as the season progressed his growth was undeniable. In the last eight games of the season the Jaguars would go undefeated. Daniel Jones’ resurgence came crashing down after a fractured fibula limited his play. He’d play through it and tear his achilles. The Colts went from 8-2 to 8-9. An ugly fall from grace. Tlaw struggled in his next couple wins against the Chargers and Cardinals, but it just didn’t matter. He’d rebound with the best stretch of his young career. In the last six games he’d pass for 1,600 yards with 15 passing touchdowns, only a single interception, and four more rushing TD’s.
So here the Jaguars sit with an improbable division championship thanks to Liam Coen pressing all the right buttons on their offense. A playoff matchup with Buffalo Bills staring directly at Trevor Lawrence. Playoff Josh Allen at home in a game that can ignite Lawrence’s confidence moving towards the future. This is Lawrence’s big chance at potentially making a Super Bowl run. No one talks about it, but the road is paved for him. No Patrick Mahomes. No Lamar Jackson. The AFC is as wide open as it has ever been. The Buffalo Bills defense is porous so a shootout is definitely in the cards even if Josh Allen’s heroics come out. Can Trevor Lawrence go toe to toe with Josh Allen and deliver the best run the Jaguars have had in his tenure? Get your popcorn ready. No one saw this coming.
If you were to tell a Jacksonville fan in the preseason that Brian Thomas would regress in 2025 with nearly half his production from a year ago (1,283 to 707 yards receiving) and that Travis Hunter would go down for the season following week 7, the logical conclusion would be that they missed the playoffs. The job that Liam Coen has done in establishing an offense that consistently puts up points in bunches can’t be understated. Parker Washington has gone nuclear to end the season looking like a real top option for the Jaguars as they enter the playoffs. Having the awareness to not force the ball to BTJ when he’s been struggling has been truly incredible for this team. Coen is having a season worthy of the coach of the year. If this team does best the Buffalo Bills there isn’t much else in their way. They already trounced the number one seed Broncos in week 15. A vaunted defense that has dominated nearly all opponents this year had no answer for TLaw. Despite being sacked 5 times, Lawrence looked unstoppable with 279 passing yards and three touchdowns. His new favorite target Parker Washington accounted for over half this production with 145 yards on just six receptions.
When you look at all the AFC playoff pictures every team seemingly has a kryptonite. The Chargers have the worst offensive line in the NFL. The Texans have an inconsistent offense with zero rushing attack. The Patriots offensive line has been decimated with injury. The Steelers aren’t even a real football team. The Bills have an awful defense and no receivers who pose a serious threat. Lastly the Denver Broncos have one of the worst offenses a number one seed has ever had. This conference is for the taking, but Jacksonville will likely have the hardest path to the Super Bowl if the Patriots were to take care of business and eliminate the Chargers. What will TLaw do with a chance to define his legacy? It's unknown, but this is the first time he has found comfort in the league.
