Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence has two years left on his rookie contract and a fifth-year option on the deal, as well. It’s possible, though, that the 2023 season will be his last before signing a massive extension with the team.
Lawrence, 23, is eligible to sign a new deal in the 2024 offseason and the Jaguars would be wise to dish out that money sooner rather than later. With eight quarterbacks already signed to contracts worth an average of at least $40 million per year and more on the way, the price tag for a top, young passer is only going to continue to rise quickly.
But with Lawrence only due to count about $10 million against the Jaguars’ cap in 2023, the team has an opportunity to spend elsewhere that it won’t have in the near future. So should Jacksonville go all in on a Super Bowl run while Lawrence is still on a rookie deal?
“We’re not in this for one season,” Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke said Tuesday on PFT Live. “We’re not trying to throw everything toward one season or trying to do anything special, ‘Well, he’s on his rookie deal.’ We’re trying to build the best football that we can, that’s sustainable. And the Chiefs have proven you can do it.
“So we’re going to look at it each year and try to build the best, most competitive football team we can. There’s only so many resources, right? You can’t re-sign them all. So you’ve got to make prudent decisions as you go through this.”
Baalke and Jaguars coach Doug Pederson have said that the team is much more interested in spending money to retain its own free agents rather than hunt for players on the market like the 2022 offseason. While that may mean Jacksonville doesn’t push its chips to the middle of the table while Lawrence is still relatively cheap, it does mean that the team will lean on the draft to build up its roster.
