Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence addressed his season-ending injuries in an Instagram post Tuesday, sending a public message to fans for the first time since being placed on Jacksonville’s injured reserve on Dec. 4.
Lawrence suffered a concussion from an illegal tackle by Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair in Jacksonville’s Week 13 loss to Houston. He remains in the NFL’s concussion protocol as of Wednesday, per Jacksonville head coach Doug Pederson.
Lawrence entered the game with a left shoulder injury, an AC joint sprain, that forced him to miss Jacksonville’s matchups with the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions in Weeks 10-11. He intends to have surgery to treat the injury after clearing the concussion protocol.
“Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,’ ” Lawrence wrote.
“I’m going to miss being out there with my brothers the rest of the way. This isn’t at all what I pictured this year looking like. I’ve been leaning heavy on this verse lately. I don’t know why things happen sometimes but I do believe how you respond is more important than what happens.
“I’m so blessed to be able to do what I do and I’m not going to let some adversity muddy the vision! Better days are ahead.”
View this post on Instagram
Detailing the quarterback’s recovery process, Pederson noted Wednesday that Lawrence has remained around the team while in the concussion protocol.
“He still has to go through the steps,” Pederson explained. “Still comes in the building every day and just goes through it as if he were getting ready to play a game this weekend.
“But I think in this case too, you’re not going to speed anything up. You’re not going to either push him through or rush him through because you’ve still got to be careful with all of it, but at the same time, we kind of go at his pace and let him, how he feels and his symptoms and all that kind of stuff, and just go step-by-step.”
Lawrence, who signed a five-year, $275 million contract extension with the Jaguars in June, completed 172-of-284 passes for 2,045 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions over 10 starts this season. He also rushed for 119 yards and three touchdowns.
In 60 games since becoming Jacksonville’s No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, Lawrence has completed 63.3% of his passes for 13,815 yards with 69 touchdowns and 46 interceptions. He has added 1,083 yards and 14 touchdowns rushing.
