The prevailing thought in Jacksonville is that the Jaguars will make Trevor Lawrence one of the NFL’s highest-paid quarterbacks sooner rather than later.
If Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson concluding his most recent comment on the situation by saying “Hopefully it gets done, and it will” wasn’t enough to validate that sentiment, perhaps what the team’s own reporters are saying will do the trick.
“The feeling I have,” Jaguars senior writer John Oehser said in a roundtable discussion on Jags A.M. Tuesday, “it’s going to get done before the season.”
Lawrence, entering his fourth pro season after his 2021 first-overall selection by Jacksonville in the NFL draft, became eligible for a contract extension in March.
After the Urban Meyer-ridden disaster of his rookie season, Lawrence’s pairing with head coach Doug Pederson led the Jaguars to consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2004-05. He completed 65.9% of his passes for 8,129 yards with 46 touchdowns and 22 interceptions in that stretch, adding nine scores rushing.
Accordingly, it is widely anticipated that Jacksonville will pay Lawrence top dollar to stick around as the Jaguars aspire for something teams often can only achieve with a franchise quarterback in place: Hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
The question is, when will the two sides strike a deal? A follow-up: How much will it be worth?
“‘Why isn’t it done now?’ Because it’s a mega-deal. It’s complicated. And there’s all sorts of things that you have to make fit under the cap, not just for this year, not just for next year, but in the future,” Oehser explained.
“You are building your cap’s house, the foundation has to be Trevor Lawrence. I think it gets done. I keep getting emails going, ‘They better not make Trevor the highest-paid —,’ Well, better buckle up. It’s coming.”
“Everything I keep hearing is that it’s not quite done. Imminent is not the right word, but don’t be surprised if they’ve got it ready to go any day or when training camp begins,” Jaguars senior correspondent Brian Sexton responded. “It’s obviously something they’ve put a lot of work into.”
Five of the last six starting quarterbacks to reach long-term extensions with their team received average annual salaries of at least $50 million. Each passer will earn at least $170 million in guarantees throughout their contracts.
If the next quarterback extension handed out is not to Lawrence, his demands would naturally be expected to increase. Next in line appears to be rising fifth-year Miami signal-caller Tua Tagovailoa.
“They have time but let’s just know that the market only goes up, it doesn’t come down,” former Jaguars defensive back and current media analyst Bucky Brooks said. “And the sooner they can get it done, the better it’s gonna be economically down the road.
“The deal is probably gonna come in at well over $50 million annually. That’s just gonna be the going rate for the quarterback. When we think about Jared Goff getting $53 [million], Tua Tagovailoa is going to be in that range and that is going to kind of set the parameters of the deal to Trevor signs. In a perfect world, you’d like to get it done before Tua signs his, because whatever Tua gets, [Lawrence is] going to want a little more overtop. So hopefully they can get this done.”
Watch the full episode of Jags A.M. below.
The discussion about Lawrence begins at the 6:35 mark. Skip there if the timestamp does not automatically load upon hitting play.
