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Sorry, Jets fans.
The potential hiring of Urban Meyer as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars is unlikely to be the miracle needed to move generational quarterback Trevor Lawrence to the Jets as the No. 2 draft pick. Meyer has long resisted NFL overtures – especially from his native Cleveland Browns – so his change of mind raised a question: why now?
Part of the draw for Meyer is building around Lawrence, multiple NFL sources told The Post, and one coach said there was “no way he was going to give this up. Then dies the dream that a former Ohio State coach could favor Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields over Lawrence with the No.1 pick.
“If you think you’re going to be casting Justin Fields right away, and he’s going to be a franchise guy, that’s not it. He needs to sit down for a while, ”said an AFC scout. “Trevor Lawrence is a must see guy with a high character.”
For the crowd that never says never, consider Meyer’s quarterback’s record to not be perfect. He picked Dwayne Haskins over Joe Burrow as the Ohio State starter in 2018. Haskins had a record breaking season, Burrow transferred to LSU and ultimately won the Heisman Trophy. The two have become first-round picks, but Haskins is out of the NFL and Burrow is a rising star.
“That would be ridiculous,” said an experienced GM of the Lawrence bypass, “but what did he do to emulate what he might be doing here? The NCAA Transfer Portal is like the free agency of the NFL: who would you rather have on your team? It was a bad choice in my mind.
The grounds were transferred from Georgia to Ohio State on Jan.4, 2019 – three days after Meyer coached his last game. Meyer helped Fields land in Ohio State and remains close to the program and his successor Ryan Day.
But Meyer won’t let an old rivalry with Clemson – or Fields overtaking Lawrence in this year’s college football playoffs – dictate the future.
In fact, he hasn’t shied away from praising Lawrence, calling him “the best quarterback in college football” in each of the past two seasons.
“I had Fields and Trevor right next to each other,” Meyer said in his role as Fox analyst. “I put Trevor Lawrence first for a reason: he played an extra year. That was it. The only thing I will say about Justin Fields because I’m so close to the situation, all concerns about him as a throwing quarterback are gone now. It is developed. He is exceptional.
Could Fields overtake Lawrence in the months of training and interviews to come? Sorry, Jets fans.
“I don’t see any chance in that,” said Matt Miller of NFLDraftScout.com, who actually ranks Fields behind Zach Wilson of BYU and Trey Lance of North Dakota State as well as Lawrence. “I really think Lawrence is the best fit of any quarterback in this class for Meyer’s offense. He is QB’s best prospect of the past decade. It goes # 1.
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