McCourty pictures Trevor Lawrence in tear-jerking Fresh Prince scene as Jaguars clean house

Trent Baalke is out as Jaguars general manager, 17 days after a season-ending overtime loss dropped their final record to 4-13. The move came shortly after Liam Coen canceled his second head-coach interview in Jacksonville to sign a new contract and remain with Tampa Bay as offensive coordinator.

Now, with the team suddenly searching for both a general manager and head coach, Jason McCourty explained his sympathy for quarterback Trevor Lawrence by channeling Will Smith and the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire.

“It’s like in Fresh Prince when he’s in the house and it’s empty and he says to Uncle Phil, ‘Why you don’t love me? Why you don’t love me?’” said McCourty on Unsportsmanlike Thursday morning. “I feel like Trevor Lawrence has to be looking around and it’s like, ‘It’s not my fault, but why does nobody want to do right by me?’ Like, how much more can go wrong for him? You’re trying to figure out, and he hasn’t been able to get over that hump of getting to that elite level, but with everything that’s been in front of him, Doug Pederson early on were like, ‘Alright, this is it.’ It hasn’t worked, but this whole thing, this to me has been absolutely unacceptable for an organization.”

It’s a bit of unique adversity for Lawrence, who came into the NFL as the No. 1 overall selection in 2021, when the Jaguars began a disastrous 13 games Urban Meyer. Emerging from the rubble under Doug Pederson in 2022, Lawrence remarkably led Jacksonville to the divisional round of the AFC playoffs. However, after a promising 8-3 start in 2023, Jacksonville has now lost 18 of its last 23 games – which cost Pederson his job. Now, Lawrence is looking at his third full-time head coach in just his fifth NFL season.

Lawrence, who missed seven of the final eight games in 2024 with a left shoulder injury, undergoing surgery Dec. 17, admitted earlier this month that the road so far has definitely been challenging. However, he fully expects to be ready for the regular season.

“I don’t know the exact timeline,” Lawrence said. “I’m starting to do more rehab on the shoulder, starting to move it a little bit, so it’s been good. I’ll definitely be good by the season, obviously, and I’m hoping for most of OTAs, too, but I don’t know.”

Liam Coen reportedly will remain in Tampa Bay even after the Jaguars fired Baalke on Wednesday, but Jacksonville has a clean slate now, even if the timing wasn’t ideal. Moving forward on their head-coach search, the Jaguars are scheduled to conduct second interviews with Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham on Thursday and former Jets head coach Robert Saleh on Friday. Plus, following Sunday’s championship games, they might have an opportunity to sit down again with Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and Eagles OC Kellen Moore.

For more information on the Jaguars or the NFL hiring cycle, visit the Jacksonville team page and the Coach/GM Carousel page at ProFootballPost.com.