Trevor Lawrence explains his leadership responsibility with contract extension

The Jacksonville Jaguars have penned former first-overall pick Trevor Lawrence to a new contract extension. With that, the hope is he will lead the Jaguars well into the future from the quarterback position.

Since signing the extension, Lawrence explained that he doesn’t necessarily see his leadership role changing with the extension because he’s always tried to be a leader on the team and that kind of role is earned.

“I think I’ve earned that respect over time here, anyways, but not really,” Trevor Lawrence said. “I think I look at myself anyways as a franchise quarterback, and that’s how I’ve tried to carry myself the past few years.”

The contract that Lawrence signed is a massive five-year extension worth $275 million with $200 million guaranteed and $142 million at signing. That is set to pay him $55 million annually, which ties him with Joe Burrow for the largest annual deal for a quarterback in the NFL.

“I’m a firm believer in you have to earn respect and you have to prove it on the field in this sport. At the end of the day, you can respect people, but you’re only gonna listen so much if they’re not holding up their end of the deal on the field.” Lawrence said.

“So, I understand that those two things go hand in hand, is earning the respect and having the work ethic to back it up and then producing. So, those are the two things that I want to do more consistently but I feel like I have done and I have proven myself to my teammates and I have proven myself to be the leader that I am. I have a lot of confidence in that and I know my teammates respect me and we have a lot of leaders on the team.”

At the end of the day, quarterbacks are expected to be leaders on the field. However, Trevor Lawrence emphasized that he’s not the only lead in Jacksonville.

“Obviously, being the quarterback is a big one and looked at as the leader, but we have other guys too that, whether it’s on the defensive side of the ball or what have you, that have to carry their weight. We have a great leadership group that’s been talking a lot this offseason and we know the next step we need to take to get us to where we want to go,” Lawrence concluded.

Trevor Lawrence on signing extension with Jaguars

Among the reasons why Trevor Lawrence wanted to sign the extension with the Jacksonville Jaguars, he explained that the major cause was the simple fact that the city has become a home to his family.

“Obviously, financially it’s amazing and really sets us up for the future and for the rest of our lives,” Trevor Lawrence said.

“So, that’s a huge blessing. Obviously, that’s a big deal, but I think even more than that is the stability of being here for the long term. However many it ends up being…To be able to say that we’re going to be here and have confidence and know that, that means a lot to us and we love it here. It’s become home. Our families love it, our families love visiting here. And we’ve really settled in — this is home for us. So, we wanted to be here long term.”