The silver lining of going 1-15 in 2020 was that the Jacksonville Jaguars clinched the top overall selection in the 2021 draft. With it, they chose Trevor Lawrence. The decision was seen as a no-brainer at the time, as the former Clemson Tiger was seen as the best quarterback prospect to come out of the collegiate ranks since Andrew Luck in 2012.
Fast forward to 2025, and Lawrence hasn't yet joined the top echelon of NFL quarterbacks. That said, not everything has been doom and gloom. Throughout his stint with the Jags, No. 16 has shown he can carry the team on his shoulders (at times), even though he hasn't always been given an adequate supporting cast or adequate coaching.
Moreover, Lawrence has shown progress under head coach Liam Coen, and there's a strong chance he'll continue improving as the year progresses. But what if the Jags hadn't drafted the Knoxville, Tennessee native first overall in 2021, who would Jacksonville have chosen? Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports tried to answer the question in a recent do-over.
The Jaguars pass on Trevor Lawrence to draft Micah Parsons in do-over
Ryan Wilson re-did the 2021. He had a handful of rules, and two in particular affected the Jaguars' pick. The first one is that teams cannot pick the player they chose that year. The second one is that all players from the 2021 class are free agents, and the selection is based on their NFL careers to date.
With Trevor Lawrence off the table, Jacksonville went with Micah Parsons. Regarding the selection, Wilson argues that the former Penn State Nittany Lion was the most dominant pass rusher in the draft. He's right. Below's the skinny.
"The 2021 NFL Draft saw five QBs go in the first round," Wilson wrote. "That won't happen here, and since the Jags can't re-draft the player they originally selected, they're going with the most dominant name in this draft class in Micah Parsons."
As a rookie, Parsons logged 13 sacks, made the Pro Bowl, and earned a First-Team All-Pro designation. He's added 42 sacks and three more Pro Bowl selections since then.
But just before the 2025 season, Parsons got in a contract impasse with the Dallas Cowboys and was ultimately traded to the Green Bay Packers, where he got the biggest contract ever for a pass rusher. There's no doubt that the Jaguars could use that kind of production at defensive end.
And in case you were wondering, Lawrence went to the New York Jets at No. 2 in the do-over. Zach Wilson was their original choice.
How much of an impact would Micah Parsons have with the Jaguars?
At the time of the 2021 draft, Josh Hines-Allen was the Jags' best pass rusher. However, he was coming off a season in which a knee injury limited him to eight games and 2.5 sacks. The former Kentucky Wildcat had a nice season in 2021 but could've most definitely used some help at the line of scrimmage.
Aside from Hines-Allen, the Jaguars didn't have a player who could bring the heat. Roy Robertson-Harris, Adam Gotsis, and Dawuane Smoot were solid but not the kind of pass rushers that keep opposing coordinators awake the night before game day. Having Parsons opposite Hines-Allen would've been huge.
Of course, picking Parsons over Trevor Lawrence would've had huge ramifications. For starters, there's a chance Gardner Minshew wouldn't have been traded to the Philadelphia Eagles that year, and Jacskonville may have gone the free agency route to find a quarterback. Similarly, the Jaguars might not have drafted pass rusher Travon Walker the following year.
Now, it's hard to tell whether things would have turned for the better if the Jaguars had traded Micah Parsons for Trevor Lawrence, but the franchise would've surely taken a different path. Given how coveted pass rushers are nowadays, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Grade: B