Trevor Lawrence to Jaguars, Fantasy Impact

The pick that has been known for — depending on how you want to define it — a few weeks, a few months or a few years finally happened Thursday, with Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence going first overall in the 2021 NFL Draft to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

(Check out the FTN Trevor Lawrence scouting report here.)

Lawrence was the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2020 and won the ACC title each of his three years as the starter for Clemson. He’s never lost a regular-season game as a starting quarterback dating all the way back to high school. In three years with Clemson, he passes for 10,098 yards and a 90:17 TD:INT ratio, adding 18 rushing scores (17 in 2019-2020 combined).

(Follow along with every pick in the FTN Draft Tracker.)

The Jaguars haven’t had a QB finish better than 20th in fantasy since Blake Borltes in 2017, haven’t had a top-10 finisher since Bortles in 2015-16. The team has only had two quarterbacks make the Pro Bowl in its history — Mark Brunell in 1996, 1997 and 1999 and David Garrard in 2009. Lawrence, who has been expected to be the first overall pick in this year’s draft since at least his freshman year at Clemson. Comes into a situation with an above-average receiving corps (D.J. Chark, Marvin Jones and Laviska Shenault) and 2020’s breakout rookie RB (James Robinson), plus a subpar defense, so he could be in line for decent fantasy production from the start. Don’t be surprised if Lawrence is a high-end QB2 in 2021 with weekly QB1 upside. — Daniel Kelley