What Does Trevor Lawrence's RISE Teach Us About NFL Quarterbacks?

Accompanied reading: Sando's 2026 quarterback tiers nytimes.com/athletic/interactive/nfl-quarterback-tiers-insider-rankings-2026

Trevor Lawrence was the most baleyhooed quarterback coming out of college since Andrew Luck, seemingly a true can't-miss prospect. Until he missed. And then in year five of his career, when he seemingly was going to go down as a player who never lived up to the hype, he put it all together and finished fifth in MVP voting. Early on this season, he has picked up right where he left off. What can we as a football-loving people take from Lawrence's path to where he is now? Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen dive into that question on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Sponsored by @usbank

0:00 Welcome to the show
0:13 Robert: “I’m back.”
1:28 We need to talk about quarterbacks
1:44 Trevor Lawrence
5:44 Lamar Jackson
6:00 Quarterbacks sensitivity to their surrounds
6:53 Matthew Stafford
9:37 Being the best on their team
11:57 Baker Mayfield
12:15 Challenges with improving defenses
14:25 Stafford's unique eras
15:23 Jared Goff
15:37 Josh Allen
19:41 The 55M quarterbacks
28:29 Lessons we learned from Trevor Lawrence
32:14 Liam Coen
33:52 “Some asshole”
36:45 Context around quarterback evaluations
37:22 Caleb Williams
37:59 Justin Herbert
39:03 Drake Maye
42:36 Where we went wrong with Herbert
46:14 How long should we wait
48:44 Cam Ward
49:03 Michael Penix Jr
49:16 Bryce Young
51:51 Accidental short joke
52:52 Do we care aobut turnovers too much?
54:59 Relitigating the 2024 MVP

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