AFC South Rumors: Lawrence, Pierce, Skowronek

Many are under the impression that Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence could be the next NFL passer to sign a big extension. Jacksonville is on board with that opinion as talks with Lawrence continue to progress. ESPN’s Michael DiRocco believes that, when a Lawrence extension does occur, it will look a lot like that of recently extended Lions quarterback Jared Goff in many regards.

This prediction comes from talks with NFL front office executives from outside of Jacksonville, who expect Lawrence’s average annual salary to just outpace Goff’s figure of $53MM per year. They also expect the deal to resemble the structure of Goff’s deal, which spans four years and included a $73MM signing bonus, spreading that amount over five years. Like most long-term contracts, the deal also guarantees two lower-paid salaries at the start of the deal while incentivizing future talks as salaries skyrocket in Year 3 of the contract.

Essentially, this executive is under the impression that, as of right now, Lawrence has done enough to help push the ever-growing value of quarterback contracts but has not done enough to eclipse Bengals passer Joe Burrow‘s league-high AAV of $55MM per year.

Here are a few other rumors from around the AFC South:

• Texans running back Dameon Pierce put up an impressive rookie season as a fourth-round pick out of Florida in 2022 but saw an unprecedented drop off during a sophomore slump last season. After nearly breaking the 1,000-yard rushing mark in his first season, Pierce watched his starting job get stolen by veteran free agent Devin Singletary midway through his second season. Now, in Year 3, Pierce will have to compete with another veteran free agent addition in Joe Mixon, who is widely expected to start for Houston in 2024. Head coach DeMeco Ryans claims that, despite Pierce’s nearly cemented status as RB2, we can expect to see a fairly healthy dose of the third-year rusher as part of a one-two punch with Mixon next season, per Michael Shapiro of Chron.
• Lastly, the Texans recently traded for Rams wide receiver Ben Skowronek, making yet another trade addition to their receiving corps this offseason. Already rostering, Stefon Diggs, Nico Collins, Tank Dell, Robert Woods, Noah Brown, and John Metchie, adding another receiver hardly seemed like a priority. Well, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2, Skowronek not only adds some much-needed size to the room, but he also emerged as an effective special teams contributor in Los Angeles. Skowronek’s special teams prowess should help him to potentially hold on to a roster spot come September.