The Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence have agreed to terms on a massive five-year contract extension, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Initial reports indicated the contract is worth up to $275 million with $200 million in total guarantees and $142 million fully guaranteed. His $55 million average annual salary matches that of Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow, making them the highest-paid players in the NFL.
Lawrence’s signing bonus will be $37.5 million, per Rapoport.
Lawrence and Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke revealed in April that negotiations had begun between Jacksonville and its No. 1 overall selection in the 2021 NFL draft, although both sides suggested then that a deal was not necessarily being rushed at the time.
Soon after those comments were made, Jacksonville picked up Lawrence’s fifth-year option and extended their negotiating window. It would have guaranteed Lawrence a $25,664,000 fully guaranteed salary in 2025, per Over the Cap.
“I try not to force anything. We’ve had some great talks and great conversations. I spoke with his agency again last night,” Baalke said on April 18. “We’re working, but you can’t force this stuff.”
Lawrence made clear on April 16 that, while his focus was on the upcoming season rather than his contract, he’d like to remain Jacksonville’s signal-caller for the foreseeable future.
“I’d love to obviously be a Jag, for as long as possible. We love it here and I love where we’re headed as an organization and feel like I’m just getting better every year. My best ball is definitely ahead of me,” Lawrence said.
“At the end of the day, my job isn’t going to change whether I get extended or not before this season. My job is to go win games and to be the best I can be for this team so we can have a chance to win a Super Bowl.”
Despite lofty immediate expectations for the quarterback following his illustrious, All-American, National Championship-winning college career at Clemson, Lawrence’s time with the Jaguars began with the chaos of Jacksonville’s Urban Meyer experiment.
The three-time college national champion head coach was hired and fired by the Jaguars in 2021, Lawrence’s rookie season, after beginning his NFL coaching career with a 2-11 record and enduring multiple controversies during the stint.
Lawrence completed 59.6% of his passes for 3,641 yards with 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions that year.
Once the Jaguars replaced Meyer with Super Bowl-winning former Philadelphia head coach Doug Pederson in 2022, Lawrence quickly regained his footing and Jacksonville began to reap the benefits.
With Lawrence behind center the past two seasons, the Jaguars posted consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2004-05, peaking with a run to the AFC Divisional Round of the 2022-23 playoffs, where Jacksonville fell to Kansas City, 27-20.
Before the postseason defeat, Jacksonville ripped off a six-game winning streak including the third-largest comeback victory in playoff history, beating Los Angeles 31-30 in the AFC Wild Card round after the Chargers opened the game with a 27-0 lead.
The Jaguars opened the 2023 season with an 8-3 record before Lawrence experienced multiple injuries, including a high-ankle sprain, an A/C joint sprain in his throwing shoulder and a concussion. Lawrence’s leading receiver, Christian Kirk, suffered a season-ending groin injury in the same game he experienced the ankle sprain, in Week 13.
Jacksonville finished the campaign 1-5. Before the slide, Lawrence had tossed for 6,859 yards with 39 touchdowns and 15 interceptions and scored eight rushing touchdowns over 28 regular season games under Pederson, compiling a 17-11 record as the Jaguars’ starting passer in that stretch.
Through 50 regular season appearances with Jacksonville, each of which he’s started, Lawrence has completed 63.8% of his 1,750 passes for 11,770 yards with 58 touchdowns and 39 interceptions. He’s added 964 yards and 11 scores on the ground.
In two postseason games, Lawrence has gone 52-of-86 (60.5%) passing for 505 yards with five touchdowns and five interceptions and rushed four times for 34 yards.
This is a breaking news story that will be updated.