“Tank for Tua” is so 2019.
With Round 1 of the 2020 NFL Draft in the rearview mirror, we are approximately T-minus one year until flaxen-haired quarterback Trevor Lawrence is selected No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Browns.
Just kidding, Browns fans and Baker Mayfield believers. Though, all NFL supporters should probably get used to hearing the “Tank for Trevor” (“Lose for Lawrence”?) battle cry and get acquainted with the sensational prospect who has dominated college football and is poised to become the next Joe Burrow.
Background
Lawrence was born in Johnson City, Tennessee and attended Cartersville High School in Georgia, where he played both basketball and football. The five-star recruit broke Deshaun Watson’s state record for passing yards and passing touchdowns and was an early commit to Clemson.
NCAA highlights
Lawrence shot onto the college scene and posted a near-flawless freshman season after being named the Tigers’ starter almost immediately. Clemson trounced Alabama in 44-16 in the 2019 title game and he became the first true freshman quarterback to start for a national champion team since 1985.
In his sophomore year, Lawrence was expected to contend along with Tua Tagovailoa for the Heisman Trophy. Even with a slow start and some inconsistent play from their signal-caller, the Tigers went undefeated in the regular season and advanced to the championship game for the second year in a row.
Ahead of the playoffs, Tigers coach Dabo Swinney praised his quarterback and called him, “twice the quarterback right now that he was in the national championship game when everybody was crowning him the king of football.”
Lawrence posted the worst game of his career at the 2020 CFP National Championship and was defeated by Burrow and the LSU Tigers, 42-25.
“I wasn’t accurate,” he said following Clemson’s first loss in 30 games. “I just didn’t play well enough for us to win. Too many missed plays by me, missed a lot of receivers. It just wasn’t my night.”
“I do think I was just thinking a little too much about what I needed to do to live up to the expectations,” he told The Athletic. “And I think it’s easy to start thinking about those things.”
Lawrence has earned a bounty of awards to date, including USA Today’s 2017 High School Player of the Year, 2018 ACC Rookie of the Year, 2018 Cotton Bowl MVP, 2018 CFP National Championship MVP, 2019 First Team All-ACC and 2019 Fiesta Bowl MVP.
He is once again a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy this year.
Clemson Tigers quarterback Trevor LawrenceGetty ImagesHype among the NFL community
The 20-year-old wunderkind has enjoyed celebrity status for years having been placed on the fast track to superstardom at a young age. Even an imperfect sophomore season has done little to temper the hype surrounding Lawrence, who is lauded for his poise, incredible arm strength, dynamic skill set and ideal stature (6-foot-6, 220 pounds, slightly taller than Burrow, who is 6-foot-4, 216 pounds) across the football community.
“He will be the highest-rated and the most sought-after prospect at that position since Andrew Luck,” ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky said in March. “In many ways — talent-wise, flawless. He’s big, he’s athletic, he’s smart, he’s got a live arm, he can make every type of throw that you need [and he’s] incredibly hard-working, humble, intelligent. Everything that you want in a quarterback, they’re going to look at Trevor Lawrence and say, ‘not only is he good at it, he is great to elite at it.'”
“I’d never seen a quarterback that good in high school and he’s still the best that I’ve ever seen,” John Thompson, former defensive coordinator for LSU and Ole Miss, told the Post back in January.
“That was one of the best performances I’ve seen by a quarterback, as far as toughness, as far as making plays with his legs when he had to,” former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said of the Clemson QB after the 2019 Fiesta Bowl, whom he had previously called, “the best quarterback in college football, ever.”
Potential 2021 landing spots
Here are five teams who might jockey for the worst record and have the honor of drafting Lawrence first overall next year:
1) Jacksonville Jaguars — Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated recently wrote that the Jaguars have earned the moniker, the “Trevor Lawrence Team.” Jacksonville could be a nice fit in case things don’t pan out for 2019 sixth-rounder Gardner Minshew.
2) New England Patriots — Due to salary cap constraints, the Patriots are currently unable to pursue a prominent free agent like Cam Newton or Jameis Winston to fill Tom Brady’s spot, and while it’s certainly not very Belichick-ian to tank for a better draft pick, they may not have to try very hard with Jarrett Stidham or Brian Hoyer at the helm.
3) Detroit Lions — Matthew Stafford was on track for a fantastic year before suffering a season-ending back injury in Week 8. With 11 seasons under his belt and on the wrong side of 30, however, it’s possible Stafford regresses enough for the Lions to consider moving in a different direction.
4) Denver Broncos — The jury is out on whether 2019 second-round pick Drew Lock is ready for the starting role, who could already be falling victim to the John Elway quarterback curse.
“I don’t see any [other] options right now,” the Broncos President said at the team’s end-of-season press conference in a tepid endorsement of the 23-year-old from Missouri.
5) Carolina Panthers — The team recently parted ways with Newton and signed 27-year-old Teddy Bridgewater to a three-year, $63 million contract. That said, with so many changes this offseason, the Panthers could easily find themselves sniffing around for another franchise quarterback in next year’s draft.



