The Jaguars are negotiating with Trevor Lawrence for a huge pay jump. And Jacksonville’s coach says he’s seeing big leaps in the quarterback’s leadership.
Lawrence and the Jaguars are in the midst of phase three of OTAs. They can do full team drills, although no contact is allowed, especially to Lawrence, who struggled for the first time with injuries last season.
Coach Doug Pederson said he can see Lawrence’s development on the field and off of it. The off of it part may be the most important.
“He’s becoming the vocal leader in the locker room, on the field, in meetings,” Pederson told reporters this week. “When we got him three years ago, he was just learning our system and kind of quiet and just trying to go through the motions a little bit of just trying to adapt to us and get a feel for us. But now he’s engaging, now he’s giving us ideas, now he’s giving us suggestions and ideas and really becoming another coach, a set of eyes, on the field.”
Christian Kirk, the Jaguars top receiver, mentioned to ESPN a leadership trait he’s seeing each day with Lawrence. It involves an outreach to rookies. After all, Lawrence was there in 2021, albeit as the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.
Lawrence sits at a different table each day during lunch so he can get to know all the first-year players.
“The vocal part of it has been big,” Kirk said. “Getting to know everybody at a personal level on the team. (That’s) what great leaders do. You see him sitting at different tables with rookies at lunch and stuff like that. That says a lot about your quarterback and a leader in general.
“He’s just taking that next step. I feel like he already had it, but he is just really taking pride in making sure we’re going to where we need to go as an offense.”
Most Jaguars fans believed Lawrence took the needed step after the 2022 season. He led Jacksonville to a divisional title and an amazing playoff comeback against the Chargers. The Jaguars lost the next week to the Chiefs, the eventual Super Bowl champions.
But last year, Jacksonville peaked at midseason, then melted down the stretch. They were 8-3 after beating the Texans Thanksgiving weekend. But then Lawrence suffered a concussion, ankle and shoulder injuries over the final six games. Subsequently, the Jaguars went 1-5 to finish at 9-8 and out of the playoffs.
Pederson also sees more development for the Jaguars quarterback on the field.
“Schematically, repetition goes a long way,” the Jacksonville coach told reporters. “Utilizing that repetition to benefit your football team … that’s where Trevor’s really taken, I think, the next step. Now it’s got to translate on the field into wins and losses and touchdowns versus INTs and stuff like that. But that’s where I’ve seen the biggest growth in the few years that we’ve been together.”
Sides now are talking about a new contract for Lawrence, which would make him another quarterback in the $50 million club. ESPN reported that the Jaguars would like to get the deal done before the season starts. They already picked up Lawrence’s fifth-year option for 2025.
“I’d love to obviously be a Jag for as long as possible,” Lawrence said. A new contract “would be great. But like I said, going into my fourth year, it’s not like this is necessarily going to be my last season (with the Jaguars). There’s a lot that could happen.”
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