2021 NFL Draft: Grading every first-round pick after rookie year
By Randy Gurzi
With the 2022 NFL Draft rapidly approaching, we pause to look back to the 2021 class and offer up a grade for all 32 picks from Round 1 a year ago
The 2022 NFL Draft is nearly here and there will be a lot of hope gained during that process. It’s really the theme of the draft every season as teams that have the lower picks are trying to rebuild their franchise while the ones selecting later are trying to stay on top.
As exciting as it all is, it’s hard to really tell how good a draft is until we see the players on the field.
In the end, we need several years to accurately judge a draft but here, we go ahead and take a look back to 2021 and hand out a grade for the last NFL rookie class.
Grading every rookie from the 2021 NFL Draft: Trevor Lawrence, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars
2021 stats:
- 3,641 passing yards
- 12 TDs, 17 INTs
- 59.6 completion percentage
- 71.9 passer rating
- 2 rushing TDs
Trevor Lawrence was going to be the No. 1 pick in this draft and everyone knew it for years. The Clemson star was head and shoulders above every other passer for years, and he was thought to be the most pro-ready prospect since Andrew Luck back in 2012.
The only question was whether or not he would try and force the Jacksonville Jaguars to trade the pick — since they seem to ruin one collegiate star after another. In the end, Lawrence never said a word and simply took on the tough task of trying to turn this shipwreck into something to be proud of.
Making it more difficult for him was the presence of Urban Meyer, who was an atrocious NFL head coach. It wasn’t a surprise that Meyer was fired during Lawrence’s first season, but he never should have lasted as long as he did.
Lawrence will now be trying to rebound from a terrible first season as he aims to prove the problem was the staff that’s no longer there, rather than him. Still, he gets a pretty rough grade for his abysmal performance which included a record of 3-14 as a starter — but he did at least show some signs of growth after Meyer left.
Grade: C-