The Jacksonville Jaguars are paying up to keep Trevor Lawrence around.
The team announced it had reached a five-year deal with its franchise quarterback on Friday. According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the deal contains $200 million guaranteed and $142 million fully guaranteed. He’s now set to earn about $55 million per season.
“I am beyond grateful to be able to continue my career in Jacksonville,” Lawrence said in a statement. “My family and I love this city — it has become home to us and this solidifies that even more. We can’t thank Mr. Khan, and everyone involved for their belief in me. I know that the best is yet to come and this is only the beginning. The drive to bring a championship to Duval is bigger than ever. Let’s get it done.”
The $55 million average annual value ties Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow for the highest among NFL quarterbacks, and therefore matches the highest mark in NFL history. The only other members of the $50 million per year club: Jared Goff, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts.
Lawrence’s deal is surpassed in total guaranteed and fully guaranteed money only by Burrow and Deshaun Watson.
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Contract negotiations for Lawrence loomed large over the Jaguars offseason, as the former No. 1 draft pick was extension-eligible after three seasons of up-and-down quarterback play. He has shown flashes of the generational quarterback prospect that was promised when he came out of Clemson; at other times he has looked mediocre.
Lawrence posted his second career 4,000-passing yard season last year, but struggled with interceptions and took a career-high 35 sacks. The Jaguars went 9-8, missing the playoffs.
The Jaguars have hardly been a beacon of stability since drafting Lawrence, mostly thanks to the disastrous hire of head coach Urban Meyer, but they were ultimately left with no choice better than paying him. And Lawrence’s contract numbers are the going rate for quarterbacks these days.
Jacksonville will now try to build a contender with Lawrence occupying a significant portion of their salary-cap sheet. So far, their offseason pickups have included weapons for Lawrence with wide receivers Gabe Davis and Devin Duvernay, plus protection in the form of center Mitch Morse and guard Ezra Cleveland. They did, however, lose 2023 leading receiver Calvin Ridley to their AFC South rival Tennessee Titans in free agency.
Trevor Lawrence is the only 2021 NFL Draft QB to get paid big
Lawrence was the crown jewel of a high-profile quarterback class in the 2021 NFL Draft. Everything that has happened since has likely made the Jaguars relieved they were bad enough in 2020 to get the top pick.
The pick after Lawrence: Zach Wilson, who never took a step forward for the New York Jets and ended up getting traded to the Denver Broncos. The next pick: Trey Lance, who barely saw the field for the San Francisco 49ers and is now on the Dallas Cowboys.
The other two quarterbacks taken in the first round that year were No. 11 pick Justin Fields to the Chicago Bears and No. 15 pick Mac Jones to the New England Patriots. Fields is trending toward becoming Russell Wilson’s backup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, while Jones has landed with Jacksonville, where he’s set to back up Lawrence.
It’s has been only three years since that draft, but Lawrence is already guaranteed to be the only member of his class to get a second contract from his original team. Paying Lawrence might not work out for the Jaguars, but it likely beats the alternative.
