6. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
Trevor Lawrence is the real deal, folks. He threw for 245 yards and four touchdowns in the Jaguars’ 24-point victory over the Browns. If you go back to the 2025 season across his past seven regular season games, the Jaguars are 7-0, and Lawrence has 19 passing touchdowns against just one interception. He’s legitimately playing like an MVP candidate, and if you can count last year as part of this surge, it’s sustained itself for nearly half a season thus far.
The Jaguars hit the nail on the head by bringing in Liam Coen as the head coach, and the great thing here is that Coen isn’t going anywhere - he isn’t the team’s offensive coordinator who will soon get poached by a new team. The offense he’s running is his, so Lawrence could be set to enjoy some high-end success for the long-term.
The Jaguars’ roster does worry me a bit, as it’s good-not-great, and the Jaguars did do this against the Browns, a team that could win a small handful of games this year. If the Jaguars, though, are able to continue seeing Lawrence this comfortable in the offense, they’ll be a handful come playoff time.
5. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals got off on the right foot in Week 1, taking down Tampa Bay. Joe Burrow had a nice day through the air, tossing 25 completions for 254 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Mike Gesicki, of all people, let the Bengals in receiving, finishing with 78 yards.
At this point, we all know the story with the Bengals - the QB and offense are excellent, but it’s been the defense that has honestly ripped away three prime years of the Burrow era from us. This team has not been into the playoffs since the 2022 season, and while it’s not really as black and white as ‘the defense has been bad,’ that was the case in the 2025 season.
And when a defense is at least average, it does take a lot of pressure off the offense, which is the key here in 2026. Cincy’s defense might not have to rank better than, let’s say, 18th in points allowed. As long as the unit isn’t horrendous, Burrow and the offense will be just fine.
That does bring into question if a top-10 offense and top-20 defense would be good enough to win the Super Bowl, but that’s also a different discussion. Burrow is excellent and could get some MVP love this year if the Bengals are indeed a double-digit-caliber win team.
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