Former Clemson Legend Reveals Why He Signed New Deal with Jaguars
Trevor Lawrence understands that many will think his new five-year contract extension with the Jacksonville Jaguars is about the money.
The former Clemson Tigers quarterback isn’t dismissing the long-term security the contract provides. He spoke to that during his press conference formalizing the deal on Thursday.
But, by signing the extension he will be with Jacksonville until the end of the decade. It also means that he believes he can do the same thing with the Jaguars that he did with the Tigers — win a championship.
"The way the organization's going and the direction that we're heading on the football side, that makes it obviously a no-brainer for us,” Lawrence said. “We're headed in the right direction, and I want to be the quarterback here. I want to bring a championship to Jacksonville. That's my goal. I really know that we can accomplish that."
The Jaguars are one of four current NFL teams that have never played in a Super Bowl, along with the Cleveland Browns, the Houston Texans and the Detroit Lions. The Jags last played in an AFC title game in the 2017 season — when Lawrence was still in high school.
Lawrence signed a five-year, $275 million extension that was reportedly agreed to last week. The deal is guaranteed to pay Lawrence $200 million and he received $142 million when he signed the deal. The value of the deal, per year, tied him with Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow for the NFL’s most valuable contract.
He said he won’t put any additional pressure on himself to win — not due to the contract and not due to last year’s collapse, in which Jacksonville started 8-3 but failed to make the playoffs.
"It doesn't really change what I expect of myself and what the team expects of me,” he said. “Whether this got done or not, (Jaguars owner) Mr. (Shad) Khan, (general manager) Trent (Baalke), (coach) Doug (Pederson), everyone, all the coaches expect me to play well and, like I said, to bring a championship here eventually.”
Taken No. 1 overall by Jacksonville in 2021, he’s earned a Pro Bowl nod, taken the Jaguars to playoffs and won a postseason game. In just three seasons with the Jags he’s thrown for 11,770 yards, completed 63.8 percent of his passes and hurled 58 touchdowns against 39 interceptions.
The Cartersville, Ga., product joined Clemson for the 2018 season and led the Tigers to their second national championship his freshman season. He became the first true freshman quarterback since Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway in 1985 to lead his team to a national title.
In three seasons with the Tigers he went 34-2 as a starter, threw for 10,098 yards, along with 90 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He took the Tigers to the national title game his sophomore season, where he and the Tigers lost to Burrow’s LSU Tigers, and to the College Football Playoff semifinals his junior year.
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