- Trevor Lawrence missed three phone calls from the Jacksonville Jaguars during the NFL Draft.
- The Jaguars were calling Lawrence to tell him they were taking him with the No. 1 overall pick.
- Lawrence eventually answered on a fourth attempt from Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer.
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Trevor Lawrence missed three phone calls from the Jacksonville Jaguars on draft night.
Jaguars management was on the clock with the No. 1 overall pick in this year's NFL Draft on April 29, and were presumably going to select the Clemson quarterback. But when team executives tried to tell Lawrence and welcome him to Jacksonville, their first three calls went straight to voicemail, which was revealed in an episode of the Jaguars' team-produced docuseries "The Hunt."
"We started calling him and getting a recording," Jaguars owner Shad Kahn said. "Then we were seeing the clock tick away and we're like 'let's try again,' and we got the same recording. After about three tries we're getting nervous."
Eventaully, new Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer took matters into his own hands and called Lawrence from his own personal cell phone. Lawrence then answered Meyer's call, and officially heard the news that he would become the first No.1 overall pick in Jaguars history, and the first No. 1 pick to come out of Clemson.
"To get that call and get to talk to coach Meyer and Mr. Kahn and [general manager Trent] Balke and all of them was just great, it was super surreal," Lawrence said.
The NFL Draft rules dictated that, despite having the first pick and knowing who to take, the Jaguars had to wait seven minutes before officially making Lawrence their selection to ensure ample time in between picks for broadcast analysis and commericals.
"When the league called they said you have to wait seven minutes to turn in the card," Balke said. "So we didn't pick up the phone to call him. We just sat there and he's sitting on his end wondering why we haven't called him."
At that point, the Jaguars only had three minutes left to notify Lawrence that he was being selected before time ran out. The three missed calls ensured that the timing of the conversation went right down to the wire, creating a fair amount of nervousness in the Jacksonville war room that night.