The Jacksonville Jaguars are backing up the Brinks truck to keep Trevor Lawrence in the fold.
The organization reached a deal with their franchise quarterback for a five-year, $275 million contract extension on Thursday, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The deal reportedly contains $200 million guaranteed and $142 million fully guaranteed.
The $55 million average annual value ties Cincinnati Bengals signal caller Joe Burrow for the highest among NFL quarterbacks, and therefore matches the highest mark in NFL history. The only other occupants of the $50 million per year club are Jared Goff (Detroit Lions), Justin Herbert (Los Angeles Chargers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore Ravens) and Jalen Hurts (Philadelphia Eagles).
Lawrence’s deal is surpassed in total guaranteed and fully guaranteed money only by Burrow and Deshaun Watson, who has failed to live up to the billing.
Contract negotiations concerning Lawrence were a big cloud over the Jaguars offseason, as the former No. 1 draft pick was extension-eligible after three seasons of less than stellar quarterback play. He leads the league in total turnovers with 60. He has shown flashes of excellence as the generational quarterback prospect that was promised when he came out of Clemson; at other times he has looked pedestrian.
Lawrence posted his second career 4,000-passing yard season last year, but had his demons with interceptions and took a career-high 35 sacks. The Jaguars went 9-8, missing the playoffs entirely.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Jaguars have gone through their fair share of turmoil since drafting Lawrence, thanks in large part to the disastrous hire of head coach Urban Meyer, but they were backed into a corner of sorts, left with no better alternative than paying him. And Lawrence’s contract numbers are the going rate for quarterbacks these days.
Jacksonville will now be tasked with attempting to build a Super Bowl contender with Lawrence occupying a significant portion of their salary-cap sheet. So far, their offseason pickups have included weapons for Lawrence with wide receivers Gabe Davis and Devin Duvernay, plus offensive line help in the form of center Mitch Morse and guard Ezra Cleveland. They did, however, lose 2023 leading receiver Calvin Ridley to their AFC South rival Tennessee Titans in free agency.
Lawrence was the crim dela crim of a high-profile quarterback class in the 2021 NFL Draft. Everything that has taken place since has likely made the Jaguars thank their lucky stars they were putrid enough in 2020 to get the top pick.
The second pick, Zach Wilson, who never materialized for the New York Jets ended up being dealt to the Denver Broncos. The next pick, Trey Lance, who barely saw the field for the San Francisco 49ers, is now on the Dallas Cowboys.
The other two quarterbacks taken in the first round that year were No. 11 pick Justin Fields to the Chicago Bears and No. 15 pick Mac Jones to the New England Patriots. Fields is trending toward becoming Russell Wilson’s backup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, while Jones has landed with Jacksonville, where he is set to back up Lawrence.
It has been only three years since that draft, but Lawrence has already separated himself from the pack and is already guaranteed to be the only member of his class to get a second contract from his original team. Paying Lawrence might not work out for the Jaguars, but it likely beats the other option of starting over from scratch.
