Tag: Trevor Lawrence Extension

Shad Khan: Lawrence, Allen extensions mark ‘a sea change’ for Jaguars

Shad Khan: Lawrence, Allen extensions mark ‘a sea change’ for Jaguars

The Jaguars made quarterback Trevor Lawrence one of the highest-paid players in NFL history earlier this month. If he were eligible to have signed a contract extension any sooner than this offseason, Jags owner Shad Khan would have green-lit the move well beforehand.

“I was comfortable committing [to Lawrence] a long time ago,” Khan said Wednesday, “and I told him that.”

Khan recalled his first pre-draft meeting with Lawrence before Jacksonville made him the No. 1 overall selection in 2021, a Zoom call during the COVID-19 era of NFL scouting.

Lawrence said something during this exchange that resonates with Khan to this day, an objective he came five years closer to realizing when he agreed to his new deal on June 13.

“He told me then, the very first time, he only had one goal in life, that whoever drafts him, he’d like to finish his career there,” Khan recalled. “It’s pretty cool.”

Lawrence is now locked in with Jacksonville through the 2030 season, which will be his 10th year in the pros, after inking the $275 million contract.

The Jaguars are banking on Lawrence’s healthy performances over his last two seasons with the team as evidence of victorious years to come, wiping clean the failed Urban Meyer experiment that was his 3-14 rookie campaign.

Under Pederson, Lawrence has completed 65.9% of his passes for 8,129 yards with 46 touchdowns and 22 interceptions, and led Jacksonville to consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2004-05, peaking with the Jaguars’ AFC Divisional Round appearance last January.

Before a string of injuries in Weeks 13-16 of 2023, the Jaguars were 18-12 (including the postseason) with Lawrence behind center and Pederson calling the shots.

Khan, whose Jaguars are 60-135 since he officially bought the team in 2012, signed off on Lawrence’s check of course: the NFL requires teams to place future fully guaranteed payments in escrow. Lawrence’s deal includes $142 million fully guaranteed.

But Khan emphasized that he did not impose Lawrence’s extension on the Jaguars’ front office or coaching staff, claiming he kept his preference quiet until Jacksonville’s general manager Trent Baalke, head coach Doug Pederson, quarterbacks coach Mike McCoy and other involved staffers reaffirmed his stance.

“I want the coaches to believe that. I want the GM, the personnel people to believe that and really be vested in it. So I think, I’m sharing that with you today because it’s a done deal, but I didn’t tip my hand to any of these people until they told me why they were sold on Trevor,” said Khan.

“I listened to all that stuff, that kind of reinforced some of it.”

Khan believes Lawrence and star Jaguars edge rusher Josh Allen’s five-year extensions, the first two $100+ million contracts in team history, mark a clear turning point for the franchise.

No longer does the team intend to rely on spending heavily in free agency to lure talent, as Jacksonville has done throughout most of Khan’s proprietorship.

The Jaguars believe they can contend with their homegrown talent and must continue to develop it as they pay their franchise players big bucks.

“[Lawrence], Josh Allen, some of these players, I mean their DNA is kind of woven into this city and that’s what you want,” Khan said. “I mean, now they got to win, okay? But the rest of this stuff, it’s really important.

“I think there’s a sea change for us,” he added. “And this is for our coaching, that they got to develop young players. Our solution isn’t, ‘We’re going to be signing free agents every year.’

“[The] bottom line is that young talent has to be developed. And the coaching staff, I mean, their priorities have to change, their mindset has to change. That’s where we’re going to get our future players and we cannot have this addiction to free agents.”

To Khan, it’s comforting that the Jaguars’ transformation includes the quarterback he’d been searching for since his arrival in Jacksonville over a decade ago.

Plenty of other teams are still looking for theirs, he noted.

“Absolutely. I think it’s very comforting, and I think a lot of other teams are kind of envious of it. Because if you look at it, there are not too many teams that can say, ‘Okay,’ Khan remarked with a laugh.

Watch: Jags surprise Trevor Lawrence with congrats video after signing

Watch: Jags surprise Trevor Lawrence with congrats video after signing

The Jaguars surprised quarterback Trevor Lawrence with a video compilation of family and friends congratulating him for his five-year, $275 million contract extension with Jacksonville after he signed the deal on Thursday.

Among those who recorded a message for Lawrence was his wife, Marissa, his immediate and extended family, friends, former coaches including Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, and Jaguars running back and Lawrence’s former Clemson teammate Travis Etienne Jr.

“Aye Trev, congratulations on your extension brodie,” Etienne said. “I’m proud of you, honored to have you as my quarterback. Can’t wait to go out there and ball this year.”

Lawrence’s contract includes $142 million fully guaranteed and $200 million in total guarantees. His $55 million annual average ties Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrows as the largest in NFL history.

The deal locks Lawrence in with the Jaguars through the 2030 season.

“Financially, it’s amazing and really sets us up for the future and for the rest of our lives so that’s a huge blessing,” Lawrence said Thursday. “Obviously, that’s a big deal. But I think even more than that is the stability of being here for the long term.

“However many years that ends up being. I guess [it] could be seven, however many it ends up being, is still a long time. To be able to say we’re going to be here and have confidence and know that it means a lot to us. We love it here; it’s become our home. Our families love it, they love visiting here. We’ve really settled in, this is home for us.”

Trevor Lawrence on Jaguars’ contract structure: ‘Felt like we all won’

Trevor Lawrence on Jaguars’ contract structure: ‘Felt like we all won’

A goal of Trevor Lawrence’s as his representatives negotiated the five-year, $275 million contract he signed with Jacksonville Thursday was to make it as cap-friendly as possible while securing the quarterback’s market value.

He believes the two sides were able to find that middle ground before striking the deal.

“I don’t know how all that works but it felt like my agent, [Jaguars general manager] Trent [Baalke] and the whole front office did a good job of maneuvering all those things where it felt like we all won in the end,” Lawrence said Thursday.

While Lawrence’s contract, by average annual value, ties him with Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow as the NFL’s highest-paid player, it’s structured to push large cap hits down the line with hefty bonuses upfront and in the early years of the deal.

Lawrence had two years remaining on his rookie contract that factored into the extension, allowing the Jaguars to spread money over seven years rather than five.

His cap hit ranks outside the 15 highest among quarterbacks between the 2024-26 seasons, currently. In 2027, he’s set to jump to No. 10. He won’t crack the top five until 2029, when only five quarterbacks are slated to be on an active contract (not including void years).

Per Over the Cap, which projects the NFL salary cap through 2027, the Jaguars have $28,644,333 available on their 2024 table, $27,363,979 in 2025, $75,267,417 in 2026 and $170,964,246 in 2027.

How does Trevor Lawrence’s deal impact the Jaguars’ future cap space?

“It started as a 15-year [contract]. I’m just kidding,” Lawrence quipped. “I’d be in a walker going out of here.

“No, for us it was always the same range. Full transparency it was four to five years, somewhere in there … I knew we wanted to be here and there’s always a balancing act of however many years you do. Sometimes that can put the team in a better position, which is great. That was our goal which I feel like we were able to accomplish.”

“Obviously there was a certain amount as a player you want to make and you want to be in the market value, all those things. But you also want to keep the team in a good position to where we can pay other guys and have players around me, do all those things from a salary cap perspective.”

With a handful of top contributors eligible for a new contract or soon-to-be, paired with yearly roster attrition creating team needs, Lawrence’s contract offers the Jaguars flexibility to spend in future years while locking in their franchise quarterback for the long haul.

Who might receive the Jaguars’ next contract extension?

“That was something that was important to me,” said Lawrence. “It wasn’t worth it to me to sacrifice being able to have a good team just so I can make some money.”

QB Trevor Lawrence signs Jaguars’ contract extension

QB Trevor Lawrence signs Jaguars’ contract extension

Trevor Lawrence’s mega-extension with the Jaguars is on the books.

Lawrence signed his five-year, $275 million contract with the Jaguars Thursday morning before meeting with reporters at the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville.

“Signed my name on the thing so it’s done, it’s official,” Lawrence said at his press conference.

His contract reportedly includes $142 million fully guaranteed and up to $200 million in total guarantees. It will keep Lawrence tied to the Jaguars through the 2030 season.

With a $55 million average annual value, Lawrence’s deal ties Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow’s to make them the highest-paid players in NFL history.

Lawrence’s signing marked the second time Jacksonville handed out the biggest contract in franchise history this offseason. Edge rusher Josh Allen became the Jaguars’ first hundred-million-dollar player in April when he agreed to a five-year, $141.3 million deal.

Jacksonville’s No. 1 overall selection in the 2024 NFL draft, Lawrence has started 50 games in three seasons for the Jaguars and completed 63.8% of his passes for 11,770 yards, 58 touchdowns and 39 interceptions.

After enduring Jacksonville’s failed Urban Meyer experiment his rookie year, Lawrence completed 65.9% of his passes for 8,129 yards with 46 touchdowns and 22 interceptions, as Jacksonville went 19-17 (including the playoffs) under head coach Doug Pederson between 2022-23.

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B/R: Jaguars ‘likely to regret’ Trevor Lawrence deal

B/R: Jaguars ‘likely to regret’ Trevor Lawrence deal

Nearly a week after his contract extension was agreed upon, opinions continue to flow in about quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s five-year, $275 million deal with the Jaguars.

Bleacher Report analyst Brad Gagnon is the latest from a major outlet to weigh in. It’s fair to suggest he’s not a big fan of the deal.

The first of his 10 listed “recent blockbuster” deals NFL teams are “likely to regret,” Gagnon wrote Wednesday that Jacksonville took a risk paying Lawrence considering the quarterback’s performance in 2023 and Gagnon’s belief that the Jaguars don’t possess a roster capable of contending.

Why they gave it to him: Lawrence was entering the final year of his rookie deal, the Jaguars obviously believe in him, and they’d prefer to save cap space in the short term with the long-term flexibility associated with a new contract.

Why they might regret it: They aren’t exactly positioned to win in the short term anyway. They still have yet to finish above 9-8 with Lawrence, who was the league’s 21st-highest-rated passer during a disappointing third pro season in 2023. There’s a good chance that the 2021 No. 1 overall pick never lives up to his draft hype.

While Gagnon’s brief analysis of Lawrence’s play makes note of his underwhelming, 88.5 passer rating from last season, it doesn’t mention his 95.2 passer rating from 2022, which ranked No. 9 in the NFL. His 4,113 yards and 25 touchdowns passing respectively ranked No. 9 and No. 10 in the league that year.

The Jaguars might have gone 9-8 that season, as Gagnon noted, but he omitted the team’s AFC Divisional round appearance in the playoffs after ripping off six consecutive victories between Week 14 and the Wild Card round.

Jacksonville also got off to an 8-3 start in 2023 with Lawrence completing 67.9% of his passes for 3,004 yards with 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions over his first 12 games, posting a 100+ point passer rating in seven of those contests.

However, Lawrence suffered a high-ankle sprain in the fourth quarter of Week 13 against Cincinnati. The Jaguars went on to lose to the Bengals, 34-31, kicking off a 1-5 slide to end the season.

Lawrence played through the hurt the next week and endured two more, a Week 15 concussion and a Week 16 sprained A/C joint in his throwing shoulder, over the Jaguars’ final five matchups.

He missed one game, Week 17 against Carolina, and completed 60% of his passes for 1,012 yards with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions in the four bouts he appeared in.

Behind Lawrence’s contract on Gagnon’s list were:

  • QB Kirk Cousins’ four-year, $180 million contract with Atlanta
  • EDGE Rashan Gary’s four-year, $96 million contract with Green Bay
  • QB Justin Herbert’s five-year, $262.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Chargers
  • QB Jalen Hurts’ five-year, $255 million contract with Philadelphia
  • QB Lamar Jackson’s five-year, $260 million contract with Baltimore
  • QB Daniel Jones’ four-year, $160 million contract with the New York Giants
  • DL Justin Madubuike’s four-year, $98 million contract with Baltimore
  • QB Aaron Rodgers’ three-year, $112.5 million contract with the New York Jets
  • DL Christian Wilkins’ four-year, $110 million contract with Las Vegas

Do you agree with Gagnon’s analysis? Let us know your thoughts via social media at JaguarsWire on Facebook and @TheJaguarsWire on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Jaguars’ Tony Khan: Trevor Lawrence’s deal ‘very important for us’

Jaguars’ Tony Khan: Trevor Lawrence deal ‘very important for us’

Reaching a contract extension with quarterback Trevor Lawrence was critical for the Jaguars this offseason.

Jacksonville’s chief football strategy officer and part-owner Tony Khan, son of principal team owner Shad Khan, said as much on Monday’s episode of the Locked on NFL Draft podcast, commenting on Lawrence’s five-year, $275 million extension for the first time publicly since it was agreed upon last Thursday.

“It’s very important for us and it’s great news for the Jags fans and everybody in the Jaguars’ organization,” Khan said. “We got Trevor Lawrence locked into a great contract — to have a top quarterback, a top young quarterback, and somebody that is really a face of the Jaguars and we all love working with.

“I think Trevor’s tremendous and just an absolute pleasure to work with, day in and day out. Everybody really respects him. He’s a great leader, he’s a great person, a great leader on and off the field. We’re very blessed to have Trevor in Jacksonville now [and] for a long time to come, too.”

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Jacksonville made Lawrence the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history, alongside Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, after he led the Jaguars in 2022-23 to their first set of consecutive winning seasons since 2004-05. They went 9-8 each year and unlocked an AFC Divisional round appearance in the playoffs during the 2022 season, but missed out on postseason action in 2023.

In that stretch, Lawrence completed 65.9% of his passes for 8,129 yards with 46 touchdowns and 22 interceptions, adding nine rushing touchdowns.

Khan commended Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke for his approach to building Jacksonville’s roster around Lawrence in recent offseasons.

Specifically noting Baalke’s three first-round trade-downs in the last two NFL drafts, Khan stated the Jaguars landed the players they wanted in offensive tackle Anton Harrison in 2023 and wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. in 2024, all while “stacking” additional picks to improve the roster’s depth.

With the selections netted in trading down for Harrison and Thomas, the Jaguars took defensive end Tyler Lacy, safety Antonio Johnson and defensive tackle Raymond Vohasek in 2023, and running back Keilan Robinson in 2024.

Jacksonville holds 2025 third and fourth-round selections from Minnesota as part of its 2024 trade-down.

“It’s been a really effective strategy I think for Trent and the Jags to keep stacking up picks, bringing in young talent to build around — we have a franchise quarterback and we have a great coach in Doug Pederson, a Super Bowl-winning head coach,” said Khan, referencing Pederson’s 2017-18 championship run with Philadelphia.

“Those are the hardest things to get in football, in my opinion, are a franchise quarterback and one of the top coaches in the sport. We have those things in Jacksonville.”

To pair, the Jaguars signed eight free agents and extended star edge rusher Josh Allen for a combined $188 million in guaranteed money this offseason, before reaching an agreement with Lawrence.