Favre: DeVonta Smith is Moss-like, better #1 pick than Trevor Lawrence

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence passes against LSU during the second half of a NCAA College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Everyone and their uncle have eyed the number one pick in April’s NFL Draft as the Trevor Lawrence spot regardless of what team ended up with that pick. After the #TankforTrevor playoffs that were the majority of the 2020 NFL season for the bottom rung of the league, the Jacksonville Jaguars ended up landing the first overall pick. 

Unless someone offers their entire draft a la the New Orleans Saints aiming for Ricky Williams, most think that we can basically start ordering our Lawrence Jags jerseys. But that’s not everyone, as former Vikings legend Brett Favre showed via an exclusive interview with… TMZ Sports for some reason. 

https://www.tmz.com/2021/01/24/brett-favre-trevor-lawrence-devonta-smith-nfl-draft-jaguars/

“I don’t know if Jacksonville, in my opinion, I don’t know if quarterback is their immediate need,” the NFL legend says … “I would take DeVonta Smith.”

Favre continued, saying:

“I think you go with a guy like that,” Favre says. “Nothing against Trevor Lawrence but I think you can find a free agent guy or a guy in the latter rounds or mid-rounds in the draft.”

Debatable. 

“But, you just don’t find a guy like a — this guy could be a Jerry Rice. He could be different. A Randy Moss. A total game-changer.”

Could be. Now, I do think that a guy like Smith is more of a sure thing (if that exists in today’s NFL) than any quarterback prospect as it’s always a wait-and-see situation whenever a stud QB transitions from the uneven competition level that exists in college (with the majority of opponents ending up selling insurance after they graduate, statistically) to the intense, incredibly talented level of each defensive player in the NFL. 

That shouldn’t deter you from drafting a prospect as potentially once in a generation as Lawrence, though. Unless you have a decent option on your roster already and want to trade down a spot or two to wait and land Smith.

That way you end up with the guy you already wanted plus all the capital garnered from that trade. The question is whether or not the Jets (with the second pick) would want to move up, or potentially the Falcons (who have the fourth pick). The risk with the Falcons trade would be the Dolphins (who have a young former college stud QB in Tua) and whether they’d snipe Smith at the third spot. 

Either way, I get what Favre is saying. But he’s also looking at this from the quarterbacks perspective. That perspective may have some bias, as he obviously would’ve loved to throw the ball to someone like Smith during his time in the league.

I highly doubt that the Jags would do this, though, as they’re in rebuild mode and could get some fan enthusiasm by taking the biggest prospect since Andrew Luck. You never know, though. 

Share: