Jaguars Head Coach: Regarding Trevor Lawrence’s new contract, Doug Pederson is gushing. Doug Pederson is very complimentary about the Jaguars franchise quarterback. A few pundits thought the Jacksonville Jaguars ought to have held off on paying Trevor Lawrence. But because they understood he was their guy, they offered him an extension that puts him in the top pay group among NFL quarterbacks. Their franchise quarterback is without a doubt, according to head coach Doug Pederson. Pederson stated during his appearance on NFL Network that he’s happy Lawrence received compensation and that the Jaguars have complete faith in the fourth-year quarterback.
“The decision was easy,” Pederson said when asked if locking up Lawrence was difficult. “We all feel in the building that he’s our guy. He’s the face of the franchise. He was drafted three years ago, the first round pick to be that guy. And we have all the confidence in the world, and we’re just excited and thrilled for he and his family to get this contract behind him, as we head into this season and to 24 and just continue to build on the last two years.”
“[It] wasn’t a perfect finish to last season, there were some injuries. Trevor’s one of those guys that we got to continue to keep healthy. But he’s on the right path, and we continue to work. We built the pieces around him, get our run game going a little bit, play good defense, and see what happens,” Pederson said.
The first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Lawrence got the general talent label coming out of college. However, he struggled as a rookie, throwing 17 interceptions and just 12 touchdowns. In his defense, Urban Meyer was the Jaguars head coach at the time and had no idea of what he was doing. Also stunting the quarterback’s growth was the lack of talent around him.
Once Jacksonville hired Doug Pederson as the head coach and made upgrades to his supporting cast, Lawrence had a noticeable improvement. By the end of 2022, he was playing at an elite level.
Heading into 2023, Lawrence was seen as a top-10 quarterback and a dark horse MVP candidate. He was expected to take the next step in his development and certainly made strides, especially early in the season. But once he got hurt and the rest of the team suffered injuries, he struggled and the Jags went 1-6 to finish the year.
Lawrence is now healthy and is looking to bounce back. The team’s brass once again made reinforcements to his supporting cast, so he’s most certainly in a position to help the Jacksonville Jaguars reclaim their place as the top team in the AFC South.
