A report that the Pittsburgh Steelers called the Jacksonville Jaguars to inquire about trading for quarterback Trevor Lawrence certainly set the internet ablaze late last week, especially with the Steelers needing a long-term answer at quarterback entering the offseason.
Turns out, that report was not accurate. However, it came across the desk of Lawrence, who spoke about the rumor during an appearance on the Up And Adams Show on FanDuel TV with host Kay Adams on Monday.
In his appearance, Lawrence stated that he is not going to Pittsburgh because he has a no-trade clause, and added that the Jaguars called to ensure him that the rumor was not coming from them.
“…I wouldn’t say your heart drops, but you’re kind of like, what? Like, I’m thinking, ‘Well, I can’t even get traded, I have no trade clause in my contract.’ So like, I would know about it if I was getting traded or if that was something that was gonna happen. I’d have to be on board with it, which I’m not,” Lawrence said of the trade rumors to Pittsburgh, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “I’m happy here in Jacksonville. We wanna win a Super Bowl here, and I think we can do that.
“I don’t wanna leave Jacksonville, so I’m happy here, obviously. I’m not going to Pittsburgh.”
The report from Ryan Burr regarding the Steelers inquiring about Lawrence and being prepared to send a 2025 first and a second-round pick to acquire Lawrence was rather surprising. But as the day played out, more and more reports showed that Burr’s tweet was incorrect.
So, that’s that. While it certainly makes sense that the Steelers might have inquired about Lawrence’s availability, the initial report made it sound like it was close, and if it were going to be close, it would have needed to come across Lawrence’s desk first with the no-trade clause in his contract.
The Jaguars just recently hired head coach Liam Coen, and in his introductory press conference where he was introduced as the new head coach, Coen stated that everything was about building around Lawrence. Even owner Shad Khan stated that the franchise believes in Lawrence and the goal is to build up around him.
Just last June, Lawrence signed a $275 million deal with the Jaguars, so the financial commitment was locked into place, too, making things quite difficult to trade him with a $100 million dead cap hit this year if he’s traded.
“Liam texted me actually, I guess the day after it came out and Liam said, ‘I shouldn’t even have to say this, but that’s not coming from us.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I figured.’ So, we’re all good. He didn’t even have to send that. There was no doubt on my side.”
There was quite a bit of doubt regarding the initial report from Burr, though that didn’t stop many from taking the report from a lesser-known guy and running with it, because it was showing the Steelers being aggressive at the position. Turns out, it was all fake, as NFL Insider Tom Pelissero reported, stating there was no call between the Steelers and the Jaguars regarding Lawrence, especially considering the Jaguars have no GM currently.
Now, Lawrence has spoken on it, and hopefully everyone can move on.
