Trevor Lawrence’s $275 million Jaguars contract puts immense pressure as they prepared Bid for another QB
Trevor Lawrence signed the biggest contract in Jacksonville Jaguars history last week, tying him for the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history alongside Joe Burrow. The Jags signal-caller inked a new five-year, $275 million deal, with $200 million of that guaranteed, which also ranks as the third-largest total in NFL history.
Trevor Lawrence will be entering his fourth year in the NFL for the 2024 season. He’ll turn 25 in October. Many had suspected that a deal was to be in place sooner rather than later, and the Jags didn’t hold back their wallets to make sure they secured him. As it always does, the market for quarterbacks continues to outdo itself. Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, and others have all reset it as of late, with Lawrence now on that list.
He might not have surpassed Deshaun Watson’s $230 million guaranteed or Mahomes’ $450 million value, but this is still a significant deal for a quarterback that has done much less than both, particularly Mahomes. But the Jags quarterback has recently stated there’s no added pressure, despite such a lucrative long-term deal.
“Playing quarterback in this league is pressure anyways,” Lawrence said Thursday, per Michael DiRocco at ESPN. “I guess on the outside there’s going to be a bigger expectation with the long-term deal and being the franchise quarterback and having the contract. It might change how other people look at it. But for me, I think I’ve kind of carried that responsibility anyways.
“Being a starting quarterback in this league is a big responsibility, and the team goes as you go, and I know that. So, I’m not going to add any pressure to myself just based on getting this contract. It doesn’t really change what I expect of myself and what the team expects of me.”
When one’s bank account becomes enlarged, so do the expectations; that’s just the way of any business. But it’s especially the case in the NFL. Lawrence came into the league with high expectations to begin with, touted as one of the best prospects in years coming out of Clemson, where he won a national championship and was a second-place Heisman finalist.
But with his arrival in Jacksonville also came heavily criticized former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, who was fired less than a season into his debut. The Jags went 3-14 that season, and Lawrence threw 12 touchdowns to 17 interceptions while having a completion percentage under 60 percent. At least that was his rookie season.
Lawrence greatly improved in his second season, however, under new head coach Doug Pederson, helping lead the Jags to a 9-8 record and back to the playoffs for the first time since 2017, making it all the way to the AFC Divisional Round. Most notably, he cut down his interceptions to eight and increased his touchdowns to 25, with his completion percentage jumping to 66.3.
