JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jaguars coach Doug Marrone knows that fans in town are giddy at the possibility of having the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL draft and landing Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
But he isn’t going to change his approach over the final two weeks of the season. He’s not going to sit healthy players, he’s not going to make blatantly bad in-game decisions, and he’s not going to put together a questionable game plan.
He’s still going to try to win the Jaguars’ final two games, even if that means the Jaguars lose out on a player who could potentially transform one of the NFL’s worst franchises.
“No one’s advised me anything different than to go out there and win,” Marrone said Monday. “I mean I was young growing up and had a favorite team and was excited to see where they were going to pick. I look back and I understand, but, I mean … we’re trying to win. I mean, we’re doing everything we possibly can and that’s my job right now and I owe it to the coaches and players.
“None of us are going to look at this and the future. No one knows what’s going to happen tomorrow, never mind at the end of the year. But I do understand the question and appreciate it.”
The New York Jets’ victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday gave them and the Jaguars identical 1-13 records, but the Jaguars own the tiebreaker thanks to a weaker strength of schedule. That means if the teams finish with identical records at the end of the season the Jaguars would edge the Jets out for the first overall pick.
Per ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Jaguars have a 74.2% chance of earning that pick. The Jets are at 25.6% and Cincinnati is at 0.2%. What would mess things up is the Jaguars finishing with more victories than the Jets, who have games against Cleveland (10-4) and New England (6-8) remaining. The Jaguars play host to Chicago (7-7) and finish the season at Indianapolis (10-4). The only way to guarantee that Lawrence ends up in teal and black in 2021 is to lose both of those games.
Marrone reiterated that no one in the organization has told him to do that and he’d be unable to handle it if someone did.
“I wouldn’t be able to do that,” he said. “I couldn’t do it. I just wouldn’t. I’ve never done it at anything in my life. I got trouble letting my kids win when they were little.”
The Jaguars have lost 13 consecutive games, which ties the franchise record set over the final five games of the 2012 season and the first eight games of the 2013 season. And yet there’s a real movement in the city for the Jaguars to stretch that streak to 15.
Even the city’s mayor, Lenny Curry, was caught up in the Lawrence mania, putting out a pair of tweets Sunday night, the second of which read: “Tis the season and Santa smiled on Jax today.”
Marrone said he’s not paying any attention to that, nor any of the talk of Tanking for Trevor that has been around since September.
“I feel a sense of responsibility,” Marrone said. “I’ve always taken a lot of pride of being able to get a football team to play well and a team that people can be proud of. I think when people start talking about that then they know that you’re not obviously performing to the level that you want to perform to. Myself personally it’s very difficult for me to manage a team to really read about what goes on or what people say or anything like that, so I really don’t pay a lot of attention to that. I’ve just got too much going on.
“But I’m not an idiot, either. I understand that there’s talk out there. I just think the way today’s world is everyone’s going to have their opinion, everyone’s going to write what they want to write, and they’re free to do it. That’s why it’s such a great country.”
