(06-08-2024, 01:12 PM)cland Wrote:

(06-08-2024, 11:41 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: LOL

Gimme a break

How many people in this thread have said "elite, but..." 

2?  

You know very few are calling him that but rather predicting he could get there - which makes him worthy of big money to many. 
You should hear how many Jags fans are calling the local radio shows saying "don't pay him - he hasn't proven it yet." 
There are NOT tons of Jags fans calling him elite.


He's an ascending QB with great potential that suffered bad line play and multiple injuries.
Which makes all of your references to stats pretty meaningless. 


Hopefully this season those "excuses" don't become a factor in the equation again. 
  And seriously, you can [BLEEP] right off with that "training wheels" garbage.

Err, okay.  I'm struggling to see where we disagree here.  See I read the ^bolded as he's "elite, but...he had bad line play and was injured."  I suppose your counter-argument here is that "he could be elite, but...he had bad line play and was injured???"

The training wheels comment was intended to reflect his stat-line in 2023 and the justification for it.  At the end of the day, if gets paid at the top of the market and puts up another 21 TDs and 21 turnovers (Fumbles + Ints) with a 88.5 rating in 2024-2025 the Jags are going to catch hell, regardless of the OL health or if gets banged up.  As I described, I want him to have every chance to perform...just like you stated!

The "elite" term is a hot-button demarkation in all of the QB salary talk orbiting Jacksonville currently.

IS elite 
vs
COULD BE Elite 

These two phrases are worlds apart in the current context

From my vantage point you've got maybe 10% of the Jags fanbase saying:
He is elite now, but held back by XYZ.

Then a pretty solid 50% saying he's not elite, but he might get there if XYZ. Maybe half of those folks have confidence he'll make the strides. 

The other 40% have "negative" takes ranging from "don't pay him till he proves it" all the way to "I hope we tank this year so we can draft Carson Beck." 

And to be even more clear "ascending with great potential" does not mean "elite." 

The use of the term "training wheels" in the context of quarterbacking has (for decades) been meant to describe players who are being carefully managed by coaches with dumbed-down offenses, often with extreme caution applied to when they are allowed to take chances or improvise.  None of those things are happening with Lawrence.

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