Is 2025 a make-or-break season for Trevor Lawrence?

ESPN NFL Front Office Insider Mike Tannenbaum weighed in on that question Monday during ESPN’s Get Up show.

The No. 1 overall pick in 2021, Lawrence has had his ups and downs over the start of his NFL career with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he’s looking to bounce back after an injury-plagued and statistically underwhelming 2024 campaign.

The Jaguars signed Lawrence to a massive five-year, $275 million contract extension (including $142 million fully guaranteed) prior to the 2024 season, and Tannenbaum believes “it’s getting late early” for the 25-year-old quarterback as he enters his fifth NFL season.

Tannenbaum – a former NFL executive with more than two decades of experience in team front offices – even went so far as to say that the Jaguars should consider drafting a quarterback next year if Lawrence doesn’t step up his game this season.

“I know he has guaranteed money next year. But to me, it’s getting late early,” said Tannenbaum, who worked for several NFL franchises, most notably as executive vice president of football operations for the Miami Dolphins (2015-18), and executive vice president and general manager for the New York Jets (2006-12).

“If I’m [Jaguars head coach] Liam Coen and their new general manager [James Gladstone], I’m thinking about drafting a quarterback if we don’t see meaningful improvement this year.”

Of course, Lawrence was labeled as a “generational prospect” coming out of Clemson, and he has experienced success in his young NFL career – especially in 2022, when he earned Pro Bowl honors and led the Jaguars to the AFC South division title, as well as an incredible comeback victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC Wild Card playoffs.

However, Lawrence has also battled his share of adversity while struggling with inconsistent play, turnovers and injuries. Last season, he completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 2,045 yards with 11 touchdown passes and seven interceptions in 10 games before being placed on injured reserve in early December after his shoulder injury and concussion. He underwent surgery last December to repair the AC joint sprain in his left (non-throwing) shoulder and entered training camp this year 100 percent healthy.

Heading into the 2025 season, Lawrence has played in 62 games for the Jags, including two playoff games, and he’s started all of those contests. His record as Jacksonville’s quarterback is currently 23-39, including the postseason, after he finished his Clemson career 34-2 as a starter.

Over his first four NFL seasons, Lawrence has completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 13,815 yards and 69 touchdowns with 46 interceptions.  

Tannenbaum thinks the struggles Lawrence has had at times have a lot more to do with his fundamentals than his mental mindset.

“He was coached by Doug Pederson. Doug Pederson knows how to coach quarterbacks,” Tannenbaum said. “He was 60.6 percent completion percentage, which was 31st in the NFL. He was 29th in completion above expectation [metric]. That’s not good enough for somebody that is that good. Doug Pederson is a fundamental-based quarterback [coach]. So to me, this is about his fundamentals more than anything. I know he was hurt last year. I think he’s got a little bit of a free pass.”

Lawrence completed 6 of his 7 passes for 43 yards in the Jaguars’ 2025 preseason opener against the Steelers on Aug. 9 in Jacksonville, before going 8-of-10 passing for 76 yards with a touchdown pass in the Week 2 preseason game against the Saints. He lost a fumble on Jacksonville’s opening drive against the Saints before bouncing back to lead the TD drive on the Jaguars’ second possession.

–Photo courtesy of Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images