Trevor Lawrence has spent his entire career with the Jacksonville Jaguars so far since being the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. He struggled severely during his rookie season, but followed it up with a breakout second year. His third season ended up being disappointing as he regressed in many categories.
Despite his relative struggles and failure to live up to his massive expectations in two of three years, the Jaguars decided to extend Lawrence to a massive contract. In fact, his new $275 million deal ties him with Joe Burrow as the highest-paid NFL player at $55 million in AAV.
Former vice president of the Green Bay Packers Andrew Brandt recently discussed the contract during an appearance on the Ross Tucker podcast. He outlined why he believes the deal is a bit deceiving after taking a deeper dive:
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"I think the deal was overblown. Honestly, the numbers are there, they put out the big number. I did an analysis of the Lawrence contract. It's not that good. In terms of the way I evaluate the contract, forget about cap, forget about total number. What's the cash, what's the cold-hard number he's taking home every year?"
"Among all these recent quarterbacks like Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott, it was the worst. The lowest of first-year cash, two-year cash, three-year cash, four-year cash. Lawence's is the lowest. So, don't believe eerything you read about the numbers."
Andrew Brandt dove even deeper into his analysis of the situation in a recent article for Sports Illustrated. He broke down how Trevor Lawrence's actual earnings during his contract is much lower than any of the other quarterbacks who signed mega-contracts over the past few years.
He explained that on a timeline of anywhere between one and four years, Lawrence's deal is the lowest cash number of any of the recent deals. It includes all of the established superstars that signed new contracts, like Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson, as well as some QBs such as Daniel Jones and Jared Goff.
Nevertheless, when ranking quarterback contracts, Trevor Lawrence still sits toward the top of many different categories. Among them is being tied with Joe Burrow at the highest AAV and trailing only Patrick Mahomes in terms of total value.
How much of Trevor Lawrence's contract is guaranteed?
While Trevor Lawrence recently signed a contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars worth $275 million, not all of it is guaranteed. The guaranteed portion of his contract sits at an even $200 million, which currently ranks fourth among all quarterbacks.
Deshaun Watson tops this list when he signed an unprecedented $230 million fully-guaranteed contract with the Cleveland Browns. Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert are the only other two who have more guaranteed money than Lawrence.
