Chris Simms Ranks Trevor Lawrence As the No. 6 QB of 2023
A year after former NFL quarterback Chris Simms ranked Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence as the third-best quarterback from the 2021 Draft, it appears he has come around.
In his ranking of the top-40 quarterbacks of 2023, Simms ranked Lawrence No. 6 overall -- just a year after he was ranked No. 24 and behind the likes of Zach Wilson and Justin Fields.
"Like Week 3 or 4, I was going, uh oh. I don't know if this is gonna work. Maybe he's just not going to turn the corner and look like the No. 1 pick ever. And then, I don't know, Week 7 or 8, it all changed. It was really after the Bronco game, right. And Europe, when they played in London, they lost that game. From that point on. It's like you got a new Trevor Lawrence," Simms said. "I think if I was gonna have a headline on Trevor Lawrence, I'd started with just a f****** specimen who has it all. And it's clicking. It's like it's here. And it's pretty remarkable."'
"You know, he's great size. He's a really good athlete, but the throwing [was] a different stratosphere halfway through the year. Controlled the fastball, like I told, like I'm telling, you know, and it's a game-changing arm. There's throws that he makes, you know, last 10 weeks of the year where you go that's only for the Herbert's and the Allen's and Mahomes. those are the only guys that can make those type of throws. And it starts to become commonplace almost in every game, where you start to go, whoa, okay, there's five or six in that game where I went, ooh."
In 17 starts in 2022, Lawrence completed 387 of 584 passes for 4,113 yards and 25 TDs. His 387 completions were the most in a single season in franchise history and his five rushing TDs were tied with Garrard for the most in single-season franchise history.
Lawrence joined Bengals QB Joe Burrow and Bills QB Josh Allen as the only players in the NFL with 25-plus passing TDs and at least five rushing TDs. Against the Titans in Week 14, Lawrence set a career-high with 368 yards passing and was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance.
The second-year quarterback totaled four 300-yard passing games and orchestrated three comebacks of 17-plus points, including a comeback from behind 27-0 in the postseason against the Chargers.
"But it went far beyond all of the physical specimen and stuff and got into the real quarterbacking stuff and clutchness and carrying the team and that's where to me, we're on the verge of you know, superstardom here with Trevor Lawrence," Simms said.
