The Jacksonville Jaguars won in week one of the 2020 NFL season and then failed to win another game for the rest of the year. The NFL rewarded them for their incompetence with the worst record in the game and the #1 overall pick. The Jacksonville Jaguars took Trevor Lawrence with this pick, and then Travis Etienne with their second first-round pick. When the dust settled, four fantasy football-eligible rookies ended up on the Jacksonville Jaguars roster. What can we expect from Lawrence, Etienne, and the other two fantasy football-eligible rookies for the 2021 Jacksonville Jaguars?
FULL JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS DRAFT RESULTS
| Rd | Pick | Player | Pos. | College |
| 1 | 1 | Trevor Lawrence | QB | Clemson |
| 1 | 25 | Travis Etienne | RB | Clemson |
| 2 | 33 | Tyson Campbell | CB | Georgia |
| 2 | 45 | Walker Little | OT | Stanford |
| 3 | 65 | Andre Cisco | S | Syracuse |
| 4 | 106 | Jay Tufele | DT | USC |
| 4 | 121 | Jordan Smith | DE | UAB |
| 5 | 145 | Luke Farrell | TE | Ohio State |
| 6 | 209 | Jalen Camp | WR | Georgia Tech |
Round 1, Pick 1: Trevor Lawrence, Quarterback, Clemson
Depth Chart:
QB0: Tim Tebow
QB1: Trevor Lawrence
QB2: Gardner Minshew
QB3: C.J. Beathard
TALENT
It isn’t hyperbole to call Trevor Lawrence the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck. He has everything you would want in a quarterback prospect. He’s an interesting figure to look at because Clemson vastly misused him… but they still won all the time. His passes were mostly dump-offs to the flat and swing passes, but he would occasionally uncork a beauty. He still needs some work with ball placement and deep throws tend to die on him, but his intermediate game is top-notch.
Lawrence’s improvisational skills will also come in very handy in the NFL and help make him a great QB at the next level. He s a smart guy and he has a strong arm, just needs a little extra on the deep stuff. He’s like a stronger, faster, smarter Justin Herbert, or a taller Deshaun Watson… or a poor man’s Patrick Mahomes.
2021 OPPORTUNITY
Trevor Lawrence will not find his way to the bench at all. It’s hard to know just how much the Jaguars will pass the football, given that head coach Urban Meyer has spent exactly zero time at the NFL level. He made his way up through the NCAA ranks and pretty much just stayed there for his whole career. But, if he runs the Jaguars’ offense like he ran his college offenses, then we expect a spread offense that focuses on the running backs. I would think he keeps that style, as he lost 32 games in 17 seasons utilizing the spread offense in college. Urban Meyer isn’t a dummy, either, as he tailored the offensive focus to strengthen the QB’s best attributes, as seen with both Alex Smith and Tim Tebow in college.
The Jacksonville Jaguars added Marvin Jones Jr. to the wide receiver corps of D.J. Chark and Laviska Shenault, so Lawrence will have the talent around him and the opportunity to succeed in year one.
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Right now, according to fantasy football calculator, Trevor Lawrence is the redraft QB #23 off of the board, going in the 13th round. He goes just ahead of Derek Carr. Go ahead and snap him up as a part of a two-quarterback approach in your fantasy football drafts. He has Justin Herbert upside, which means he could hit the ground running and break all-rookie quarterback records. You’ll want to get a piece of that pie at that price, which allows you to dedicate draft resources elsewhere. Right now, Lawrence has top-seven upside in his rookie year and is going at backup to the backup draft prices.
TALENT
OPPORTUNITY
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Round 1, Pick 25 Overall: Travis Etienne, Running Back, Clemson (5’10” 205 pounds)
Depth Chart:
RB1: James Robinson
RB2: Travis Etienne
RB3: Carlos Hyde
TALENT
Travis Etienne reminds me a ton of Aaron Jones, and Jones just received a massive contract from the Packers to remain their bell-cow back. It probably would have been cheaper for them to snag Etienne, but I digress. Etienne has incredible hands. Not “incredible hands for a running back,” incredible hands. Everything is so fluidly caught that it feels like he just absorbs the ball into his body before decisively moving upfield. He has good speed and has very little wasted movement in his runs. In short areas, he isn’t very sudden or elusive, but he’s impossible to bring down. In the open field, he can do whatever he wants. Easy RB1 in this class, for me, because of his all-around skills. Najee Harris is a better runner, but Etienne is the better player and offensive weapon.
2021 OPPORTUNITY
This is where things get mighty messy for Etienne. The Jacksonville Jaguars said they have plans to start him as a third-down back, spelling James Robinson and Carlos Hyde. The James Robinson part I can buy, but the Carlos Hyde part is downright hilarious. Personally, I see this thing playing out a lot like Alvin Kamara’s rookie campaign.
If you remember back to 2017, Kamara entered the year as the #3 back in the Saints’ offense, despite being better than Adrian Peterson and Mark Ingram. Then, Adrian Peterson huffed and puffed his way out of New Orleans, and Alvin Kamara’s road to stardom opened up in front of him. That’s the path to stardom I see Etienne’s rookie year heading. He’s better than Hyde, he’s better than James Robinson, and he has to beat them both out before asserting his dominance.
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Hold Etienne. Do not get stuck in the vagaries of how the first five or six weeks of the season play out. Just #HODL, as our crypto friends would say. Things will be bumpy for Etienne out of the gate, barring injury. But, once he gets his shot, he’s a top-15 running back for the Jaguars. He’s top-10 if he gets his shot due to a James Robinson injury. I am very excited about Etienne’s potential once he gets a chance to beat out the other guys in his backfield
TALENT
2021 OPPORTUNITY
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Round 5, Pick 145 Overall: Luke Farrell, Tight End, Ohio State (5’5” 258 pounds)
Depth Chart
TE1: Chris Manhertz
TE2: Tyler Davis
TE3: Luke Farrell
TE4: James O’Shaughnessy
TALENT
For fantasy football purposes, you can just skip over Farrell to get to Jalen Camp, here. Farrell is a blocking tight end who caught 34 passes for 380 yards and four touchdowns in four seasons. The only path forward to him having fantasy football relevance is if you squint really hard and look at his 2018 season with Urban Meyer, where he had 20 receptions. In reality, he’s there to block, which he’s… okay at. He’s big and strong, so his first hit is powerful, but he has trouble sustaining blocks. Still, he can carve out a long, strong career like a Levine Toilolo or Logan Paulsen, who have a combined 244 career games and 193 career receptions. He’s a complete non-factor in the passing game, and it’s likely he only went off the board when he did because of his history with Urban Meyer.
2021 OPPORTUNITY
He’s a blocking tight end. It’s highly unlikely the Jaguars will suddenly give him a ton of targets, given that Urban Meyer already coached him and didn’t give him a ton of targets. He’s a classic case of “better for football than fantasy football.”
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
You can ignore him outside of 15-team, four-tight end leagues, probably for his entire career.
TALENT
2021 OPPORTUNITY
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Round 6, Pick 209 Overall: Jalen Camp, Wide Receiver, Georgia Tech (6’2” 220 pounds)
Depth Chart:
WR1: DJ Chark
WR2: Marvin Jones, Jr.
WR3: Laviska Shenault
WR4: Collin Johnson
WR5: Phillip Dorsett
WR6: Jalen Camp
TALENT
Jalen Camp looks like a perfectly cromulent football player on tape, but he doesn’t do anything exciting. His speed is fine, he gets open enough, and he has some good hands. Unfortunately, according to PFF, he broke zero tackles last year. He’s highly athletic (9.88 RAS score… #30 out of 2432 in their database) but this doesn’t translate to production on the field. His best bet for any sort of NFL relevance is spending a year on the practice squad to work on figuring out how to harness his athleticism. He is a hyperathletic, very raw prospect that the Jags would do well to mold into something good for their squad.
2021 OPPORTUNITY
I love Camp’s athleticism, but his route running leaves a lot to be desired. He needs to get his body control in check in both his stems and breaks, and he could become something. As of right now, he’s pure athleticism, and I doubt he makes the active roster more often than not.
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
I’m in a 33-round dynasty startup draft. He might find his way onto a roster there, or as a part of a dynasty taxi squad. But you can safely ignore him everywhere else.
TALENT
2021 OPPORTUNITY
2021 FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
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