Trevor Lawrence is now the highest-paid NFL player. Last week, the Jacksonville Jaguars did something that had never been done. They gave out a five-year, 275 million-dollar contract with a $200 million guaranteed. For those not great at math, that comes to $55 million per year or about $3.2 million per regular season game (if playing all 17 games over 5 years).
Considering that the average great team scores about three offensive touchdowns per game, Lawrence could realistically be getting paid about $1 million for every touchdown the offense scores.
Is this a good deal? According to Bleacher Report, it may not be.
Jacksonville Jaguars Wanted to Make a Statement
When you look back at the players who have historically gotten the biggest contracts, a lot of it has had to do with timing, as opposed to who is the best quarterback. For example, in 2022, the two highest-paid quarterbacks were Josh Allen and Deshaun Watson. While Allen is a top-five quarterback, Watson is pretty far down the list. But at the time, the Browns wanted to make a statement, so they made the deal with Watson.
Jacksonville has been a bottom-tiered NFL team for most of its history. Finally, they felt like they had a quarterback who could lead it to success, so they decided to pull out the checkbooks and make a huge deal.
This deal does a few things that help to justify the insane cost. First, it puts Jacksonville in the headlines. In a world where the Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, and New York Jets dominate the headlines, the attention that the Jaguars are now getting has to be of some worth to them. Second, it sends a message to Lawrence that despite their struggles last year, they believe in him and are willing to treat him like the best quarterback in the league. Of course, the hope is that this will be a confidence boost that will help out the team.
Some Don’t Believe the Trevor Lawrence Deal Is Worth It
Even with the headlines and the confidence boost, this is still a huge deal that will limit what the Jaguars can do with the rest of their cap space. They are also locked in and committed to Lawrence for five years. Maybe at the end of three years, when quarterbacks are being paid even more, there may be a trade scenario, but even that is a tough ask.Bleacher Report says they aren’t sure the Lawrence deal is worth it. Here is what they wrote:
“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.”
Last year, the Jaguars started off the season strong with a 6-2 start and later an 8-3 start. At that particular time, nobody would have argued the deal. However, things started to fall apart after a 34-3 beatdown by the 49ers. Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars finished the rest of the season 1-5 and ultimately missed the playoffs.
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1 Comment
STOP GIving these players more money especially when they never took our team to the Superbowl and getting us close to it doesn’t count I say start taking money away from them and stop letting them miss practice and your giving these players more money like they have Superbowl rings when there are better players out there that actually have Superbowl rings