Every year at draft time, comparisons are drawn for the current class of top prospects to some of the all-time greatest players. Mobile quarterbacks may evoke similarities to the speedy Michael Vick, while accurate pocket passers are the next incarnation of Aaron Rodgers.
On ESPN’s “Get Up,” former NFL quarterback-turned-analyst Dan Orlovsky took the comparison process a step further.
"Trevor Lawrence is Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck and Matthew Stafford kind of balled up into one."
😳 @danorlovsky7 pic.twitter.com/ffRNXKO3Fd
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) February 25, 2021
“Trevor Lawrence is Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck and Matthew Stafford kind of balled up into one,” the 12-year professional passer said. “I think that his brain is Peyton Manning lite.
“This dude both in the run and the pass game thinks next level.”
Manning, Luck and Stafford were three of the best quarterback prospects of the last several decades, so comparing Lawrence to all of them is high praise.
Orlovsky knows what he’s talking about, at least to some extent. During his career as a journeyman, he played with both Manning and Stafford. He said that while most quarterbacks of Lawrence’s archetype have to rely on strong fundamentals to succeed at the next level, the 2020 Heisman runner-up has talent that few prospects at the position possess.
“His foundation fundamentally is elite… This guy’s got No. 1 talent as well,” Orlovsky said. “So we’re talking elite fundamentals, which matter, combined with elite talent, he’s going to be a rock star. He’s going to be an absolute stud… There’s no one close to Trevor Lawrence in the draft when it comes to the quarterback position.”
That prediction is certainly music to the ears of Jaguars fans, who are starving for an elite quarterback. Though he probably isn’t Manning, Luck and Stafford rolled into one player, he has the ability to be an elite NFL quarterback in his own way.
