Michael DiRoccoDJ Bien-Aime 1y

As Jags and Texans face off, Trevor Lawrence and Davis Mills still trying to prove themselves

After the 2021 NFL draft, the expectations for Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Houston Texans quarterback Davis Mills were worlds apart.

Lawrence was the generational prospect expected to turn the league's worst franchise into a perennial contender. While Mills was the backup plan to the backup plan who became the top option when Deshaun Watson sat out the 2021 season and his successor, Tyrod Taylor, got hurt and was ineffective in his return.

On Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS), the Texans (0-3-1) and Jaguars (2-2) will face off at TIAA Bank Field, and each quarterback is still fighting through the prove-it stage in their second year.

Lawrence is trying to prove that he can be the franchise quarterback everyone believes he's supposed to be, and Mills is fighting to become something that not many think he can be: The Texans' answer at quarterback.

Before any of that happens, the two have to start playing with the consistency that has eluded them.

"I think most players, not just quarterbacks, make their biggest jump between their first and their second year," said NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger, who spent 11 years in the league as an offensive lineman. "Most guys, it takes a year to kind of figure out the league and kind of see what defenses are doing and see where the traps are and how they try to set the traps.

"It's not uncommon for these young guys to struggle."

Lawrence definitely struggled as a rookie in 11 dysfunctional months under former coach Urban Meyer, where he completed 59.6% of his passes and threw 12 touchdown passes and 17 interceptions. His 39.1 Total QBR ranked 28th and he lost 14 games -- 10 more than he lost as a starting quarterback in high school and college combined.

Mills, who also saw his first-year coach David Culley get fired after going 4-13, struggled as a rookie, too, but his numbers were better than Lawrence's: He completed 66.8% of his passes with 16 touchdown passes, 10 interceptions and a Total QBR of 41.2 -- which ranked two spots ahead of Lawrence.

Lawrence has seemingly made progress in Year 2. He ranks 11th in Total QBR and is completing 65.7% of his passes with eight touchdown passes and two interceptions. However, he's coming off a five-turnover game in the Jaguars' loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, where he became the first player to lose four fumbles in a game since 1979.

The Jaguars have lost both games in which he's turned the ball over and won the two games in which he hasn't. He's also thriving when not under pressure: He ranks fourth in Total QBR and fifth in completion percentage, per ESPN Stats & information -- but ranks 29th and 28th in those categories when he is pressured.

"I feel like I've made a lot of progress, especially from last year from where I was," Lawrence said. "Obviously, I didn't play well on Sunday, so that's not where I want to be, but if you look at the year as a whole, I think I've made a lot of steps in the right direction. I know I've improved a lot.

"I know I have to play better. Everybody knows that your quarterback has to play well to win in this league, especially going on the road, hopefully getting to the playoffs, all those things. We've got to play well. We all understand it, but just for me, if I can just stay consistent, keep making progress, keep taking those steps, really believe in myself and this team."

Lawrence obviously has more leeway to do that as the No. 1 overall pick than Mills, who was taken 67th.

Watson was the No. 10 overall pick in 2017 and started 53 games for the Texans, but after a rocky relationship with the front office led to trade demands, and his well-publicized off-field allegations put the franchise under the microscope, the quarterback would eventually be traded to the Cleveland Browns.

That left Taylor as the starter and Mills as the team's No. 2. Taylor suffered a hamstring injury in Week 2, and Mills started the next six games. Taylor returned in Week 9 but was benched during the third quarter of the Texans’ Week 13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, and Mills started the rest of the season.

He played well enough down the stretch to be named the starter heading into Year 2, but It doesn't appear Mills has made much progress: He ranks 29th in Total QBR (28.4) and 25th in passer rating (80.4). His completion percentage is lower than it was as a rookie, and he has five touchdown passes and four interceptions.

He has actually been better than Lawrence under pressure (his Total QBR ranks 25th and completion percentage ranks 10th), but when he's not, he ranks 30th in Total QBR and 24th in completion percentage.

This led to questions about whether Mills should go to the bench in favor of Kyle Allen heading into Week 5, an idea that Texans coach Lovie Smith quickly dismissed.

"We're not making a change at the quarterback position," Smith said. "The things we’ve talked about is with Davis leading us ... we all need to do better. Did I just tell you where we were in the fourth quarter [against the Los Angeles Chargers]? Do you know who our quarterback was that led us in position to take the lead there at the end? Davis Mills.

"He's our quarterback."

Regardless of the vote of confidence, Mills isn't worrying about his future and if he can be the Texans' long-term answer.

"There's pressure in being the starting quarterback. I'm not looking that far ahead of it," Mills said. "I'm taking this really one practice at a time, one week at a time right now. I'm just going out there, putting my best foot forward each day for my teammates and trying to win games.

"It comes down to just going out there and being efficient, doing my job on offense, getting the ball around to the playmakers. I don't need to go out and make every single play or go out and do too much. If I'm efficient with the ball ... everything else should work itself out."

Lawrence is certainly in a better situation for growth than Mills. New coach Doug Pederson turned Carson Wentz into an MVP candidate and won a Super Bowl with Nick Foles when he was with the Eagles.

The Jaguars also made a significant investment in free agency to give Lawrence a veteran group of proven playmakers. The Jaguars gave tight end Evan Engram and receivers Christian Kirk and Zay Jones a combined $59.25 million in guaranteed money ($37 million to Kirk alone) to supplement receiver Marvin Jones Jr. and running back James Robinson.

Mills does have receiver Brandin Cooks, who has six 1,000-yard receiving seasons, and tight end O.J. Howard, but the team's other pass catchers are tight end Brevin Jordan and receivers Phillip Dorsett, Nico Collins, Tyler Johnson and Chris Moore. Houston did use one of its picks it acquired in the Watson trade to draft receiver John Metchie III with the 44th pick, but Metchie won't play this season after being diagnosed in July with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia.

Young quarterbacks need to develop consistency and a good supporting cast helps with that.

"That consistency turns into growth, and that consistency turns into being that 1% better that we talk about every single day," Pederson said. "That's a message I think that everybody on the team can understand and learn from."

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