Lawrence has 'a lot more confidence' in Jaguars' direction

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is excited about the direction of his team.

"I have a lot more confidence in where we're going moving forward," Lawrence said, according to Grant Gordon of NFL.com. "We have our coach, we've got a lot of our guys coming back on offense, defense."

The 23-year-old Lawrence made the Pro Bowl as an alternate in his second year, helping the Jaguars take a giant leap from his rookie season. Jacksonville went 9-8, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round after a 4-13 season in 2021.

After getting off to a 4-8 start, the Jaguars rallied to win their last five games to secure the AFC South title.

Lawrence picked up his play in those five games, throwing for 1,279 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions. A miraculous comeback victory in the wild-card round over the Los Angeles Chargers got the Jaguars their first playoff win since 2017.

"We were 4-8, and we knew we would pretty much have to win the rest of our games to have a shot in the playoffs, and we did," Lawrence said. "We always had that belief in ourselves, but it is cool."

The hiring of head coach Doug Pederson worked wonders for Lawrence.

"Our personalities really are similar, I think," Lawrence said. "And we get along really well. That was evident early."

Lawrence has help on the way, as the Jaguars acquired wide receiver Calvin Ridley at the trade deadline. Ridley was suspended for the 2022 season for betting on NFL games. The Jaguars also hold the 25th overall pick in the upcoming draft.