With the coaching carousel likely done at last into next fall, the quarterback carousel is gearing up and one huge name has surfaced according to Ryan Burr of the Big Ten Network.
Burr just tweeted this potential bombshell: “Steelers have made inquiries to the [Jaguars] about a trade for QB Trevor Lawerence. This directly from the horses mouth in the Jags organization. WOW!”
Why would someone from the Jaguars leak this? It’s possibly an effort to generate a trade market for Lawrence, if the new coaching staff would prefer to go in a different direction. Yes, they gave him a big contract after three seasons. After his fourth, is there regret? With a new head coach in the building, would he prefer to pass the baton to Mac Jones?
The structure of the contract gives them a window to make a trade. On the tenth day of the 2025 league year, Lawrence earns a $35 million option bonus. Before then, a trade would trigger a $30 million dead-money charge while foisting the balance of his contract onto his new team.
Although the five-year extension has a $55 million new-money average, Lawrence had two years left on his rookie contract. It was a seven-year, $306.34 million deal with an average from signing of $43.763 million per year. With $39 million paid out in 2024, the contract has six years and $267.34 million remaining. That’s an average of $44.55 million — less than 75 percent of the current top of the market.
It should be noted that Lawrence's contract includes a no-trade clause so he would have to agree to any trade. But given that he is already facing yet another new coaching staff, he might as well trade Jacksonville for a team with a future Hall-of-Fame coach and more talent with a tradition of winning that the Jaguars cannot match.
It is entirely possible that the Steelers are calling every team with a starter who might be available. Every year, plenty of calls are made among teams. It’s what General Managers do. But you have to wonder who is answering the phone in Jacksonville as the still haven't hired a new GM.There’s a huge difference between making a call and wanting to do a deal.
Pittsburgh would surely love to have a young franchise quarterback who will be the team’s starter well into the future. They went 20 years between Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger. The Kenny Pickett experiment failed. This year’s quarterback class isn’t as strong as last year’s. Last year’s veterans-only approach didn’t work as well as they had hoped.
While it’s too early to think Lawrence will be traded to the Steelers, it’s not too early (thanks to Burr’s report) to wonder whether the Steelers are willing to trade for a new starter — and whether the Jaguars are willing to listen to anyone else who might pick up the phone and dial Duval.