Not only did the Jacksonville Jaguars have zero interest in trading QB Trevor Lawrence, they evidently didn’t receive a phone call from the Pittsburgh Steelers about it, either. Per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Thursday morning report of the Steelers inquiring about Lawrence is “fake.”
That was relayed by Rich Eisen a short time ago.
It’s consistent with local reporting in the Pittsburgh and Jacksonville areas that reported the same. No talks occurred between the two franchises, refuting a Thursday morning report that created plenty of buzz. While not impossible, it never made sense for the Jaguars to engage in talks without a general manager hired and after tabbing Liam Coen as their new head coach just weeks ago.
While calling around never hurts, the Jaguars would take a $100 million cap hit if they traded Lawrence right now, making it a fruitless phone call even if it did occur (and it doesn’t seem like it did). Pittsburgh may be considering a variety of options for its 2025 starting quarterback and has yet to come to an answer but it doesn’t appear Lawrence was under consideration as even a conversation starter.
The Steelers still seem most likely to retain one of Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, giving them some measure of stability and continuity under second-year offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Going outside the organization would result in them starting a different Week 1 quarterback in five-straight years: Ben Roethlisberger in 2021, Mitch Trubisky in 2022, Kenny Pickett in 2023, Justin Fields in 2024, and whatever hypothetical external name for 2025.
Still, an outside option can’t be entirely discounted. Not only because Wilson and Fields have their own autonomy — they are pending free agents who won’t be franchise or transition tagged, meaning Pittsburgh has to plan for the possibility neither returns — but as a good business practice to weigh all options since neither Wilson nor Fields are slam-dunk options.
Determining the “who” is difficult. Aaron Rodgers doesn’t look the candidate while the Los Angeles Rams don’t have many incentives to trade Matthew Stafford. The rest of the free agent pool is weak, and the draft class isn’t especially strong. NFL free agency kicks off in less than one month and the Steelers will hope to have clarity at quarterback by then.
