It seems like the Jacksonville Jaguars are going to make Trevor Lawrence one of the NFL’s highest-paid quarterbacks at some point before the 2024 season. As far as foregone conclusions go, this one is fairly gone.

As a result, it is little surprise that Lawrence was the focus when it came to the offseason superlative selected by ESPN for the Jaguars. The Jaguars were tabbed “Team most likely to hand out $100 million in guarantees before the start of the season.”

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s 2023 season wasn’t the breakout the team was hoping for after his white-hot end to the 2022 campaign, but there’s seemingly little appetite for moving on from him. When a team has a quarterback it wants to build around, the best thing for cap purposes is usually to extend him after Year 3, when there are still four years of plausible runway between that quarterback and free agency (with the fourth year of his rookie deal, his fifth-year option and two potential franchise tags). Spreading that huge bonus over a five-year span and getting the guaranteed salaries on board earlier in the deal is usually the right way to go.

What will a Lawrence extension look like? Depends on which QB gets his deal done first. Last year, Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow all signed contract extensions after becoming eligible. Burrow signed the latest and landed the largest deal; his five-year extension averaged $55 million per year. Adjust that for the growth in the cap between 2023 and 2024 and Lawrence could get $62.5 million per season. He hasn’t been as productive or successful as Burrow, but that doesn’t matter much with these young quarterback extensions.

– Bill Barnwell, ESPN

While 2023 was clearly not the season the Jaguars or Lawrence expected the former No. 1 pick to have, the Jaguars’ brass and the 24-year-old passer have openly talked about meeting to discuss the looming contract this offseason.

In short, no 2023 was not the season Lawrence was supposed to have but there is no hesitation to extend the franchise quarterback.

“We do have the right quarterback. I’m excited for the future with Trevor, he’s excited based on the conversations we’ve had since the season,” Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said in Feburary at the NFL Scouting Combine.

“I don’t get into the contract stuff, I leave that for Trent [General Manager Trent Baalke] and the agents and stuff. I just know that our guy is the right guy, he’s got the right demeanor, he’s got the right leadership. It’s our job as coaches now to make sure he takes that next step. This will be another big offseason for him and his development and growth. By no means is he where he wants to be or where we want him to be, but really looking forward to working another year with Trevor.”

Lawrence finished the 2023 season completing 65.6% of his passes for 4,016 yards, 21 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, along with seven lost fumbles. Lawrence also missed his first career start as he dealt with four different injuries, with Lawrence seemingly having to limp to the finish of the season.

Lawrence sustained four different injuries last fall that forced him to miss valuable practice time and play in several games with injuries: a knee injury in Week 6, an ankle injury in Week 13, a concussion in Week 15, and then finally a shoulder injury in Week 16 that forced him to miss his first-career start.

Among Lawrence’s 16 starts, his four starts after each injury saw Lawrence have his 2nd, 5th, 7th, and 8th worst games of the season by total EPA.