The offseason experienced an unexpected jolt from and unlikely place last week, when someone who covers Big 10 basketball reported that the Steelers have called the Jaguars about a potential trade for quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
The Jaguars promptly leaked word to ESPN.com that there’s “no chance” it will happen. On Monday, Lawrence said he won’t waive his no-trade clause and that he’s not going to Pittsburgh.
Here’s one more nugget. Per a source with direct knowledge of the situation, the Steelers did not call the Jaguars about Lawrence.
The notion that the Steelers made the call was plausible. If their strategy for upgrading at quarterback in 2025 includes the possibility of acquiring a current starter in trade, it would make sense to call a variety of teams, simply to see if their current starter is available. But since the Jaguars currently don’t have a General Manager, who would another team even call? Assistant G.M. Ethan Waugh? (He’s a finalist for the G.M. job, and the name to watch of the five candidates who’ll interview in person, starting Wednesday.) Executive V.P. of football operations Tony Boselli? Owner Shad Khan?
As we understand it, the folks at the highest levels of the franchise remain fully committed to Lawrence. If someone from the Jaguars did indeed tell Ryan Burr of the Big 10 Network that the Steelers called about Lawrence, it was possibly someone within the organization who isn’t as committed — and who is hoping to entice someone to make ownership an offer for Lawrence that wouldn’t be refused.
Lawrence isn’t among the group of players who would never be traded, for any package of players and/or picks. He’s not Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow or Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson or Jalen Hurts or the other players who, if the subject of a trade offer, would trigger laughter followed by an abrupt end to the phone call. At the right price, the Jaguars would have to at least consider it. Especially if new coach Liam Coen isn’t fully sold, deep down, on Lawrence. (Coen gains nothing by sharing any reservations he might have about his new quarterback, with anyone.)
The question now becomes whether some other team will broach the subject with the Jaguars, especially with the entire league descending on Indianapolis next week for the Scouting Combine.
And even if Lawrence — who likewise gains nothing by saying anything other than “we love Jacksonville” — wouldn’t waive the no-trade clause for the Steelers, is it impossible to think he’d consider waiving it for a trade to a team like, say, the Rams? The possibility of joining a team that made it to the final eight, that gave the Eagles all they could handle, and that has quarterback guru Sean McVay as its head would have to at least be slept on.
Bottom line? If a lower-level Jaguars employee deliberately leaked that the Steelers called about Lawrence in order to introduce the possibility of a Lawrence trade to the league at large, it worked. While it still remains highly unlikely that a Lawrence trade will happen, teams evaluating their quarterback options have reason to pick up the phone and make the call.
To anyone but the G.M., of course.
