Trevor Lawrence Is Still Adjusting To NFL, Says He 'Feels Good About Where I Am'

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is adjusting to life in the NFL, especially the stark increase in responsibility and the time it takes to grow as a professional.

"Oh, gosh, it's completely different," Lawrence said about the demands of the NFL versus college football.

“It's like you don't even know what day it is. You try to do the same things you do in a normal week. You just have to be a lot more efficient with your time."

Lawrence is currently trying to prepare for a nationally-televised Thursday Night Football game against the Bengals, his first game with only three days of turnaround time in his career. Add in the learning curve of increased media availability, more complex defenses, and a new playbook, and you start to understand why NFL quarterback is considered the toughest position in all of sports.

Jags offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell was complimentary of his new quarterback, though.

"You can look around the league, and I'll take our guy every day in the rookie quarterbacks and how they're doing," Bevell said Tuesday. "It's a different game for them when they come into the NFL. Trevor's progression has been great. He's doing a great job. He works his tail off. His play is getting better and better."

Lawrence’s numbers aren’t stellar, but they’re improving. He completed 22 of 34 passes for 219 yards, a TD, and two INTs in Sunday’s loss to Arizona. But the rookie QB did get through his progressions more quickly and more efficiently, according to his coaching staff, which is all that they can ask for at this juncture.

"I think I've gotten better at getting through all my progressions,” Lawrence said. “I thought I did a pretty good job getting through my reads, not holding the ball too long. I thought I was more accurate. Those are the biggest things."

Lawrence seems to understand that rookies get some natural rope in terms of catching up to the pace of the NFL, but he also talks as if he’s ready to make big improvements sooner rather than later.

"Everybody's different and everybody's situation is different," he said. "I'm also not expecting this thing to take a year or two until I start taking care of the ball and playing better. I'm trending that way right now and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and feel like there's a lot of work for us to do and a lot of games we can win.

"I'm going to accelerate that as fast as possible. I haven't played my best, but I know there's a lot of good football ahead."

The Jaguars and Bengals kick off this Thursday from Cincinnati at 8:20 PM ET.