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Michael DiRocco
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence will be limited in the spring as he continues to recover from surgery to repair the AC joint in his left shoulder and is on schedule to be fully cleared by the time training camp begins.
Jaguars coach Liam Coen said that there isn’t yet a set plan for how much throwing Lawrence will do but that Lawrence is being monitored by vice president of player health and performance Jeff Ferguson and Will Wynkoop, his personal strength coach, as the offseason program progresses.
“As we lead in, we’re optimistic that we’ll get there in terms of where we need to go,” Coen said Wednesday. “He’ll be on a pitch count for those things. In terms of the where he has to get to, because he has little touch points he needs to reach before he can obviously get out onto the grass and do it full speed, everything’s moving forward. He feels really good right now, so excited about that.”
Lawrence had surgery Dec. 17 and was in a sling until late January. He said Wednesday that he has no deadline in mind for when he wants to be completely cleared.
“We don’t play a game until this fall, so obviously I’m going to be ready sooner than that, so I’m very optimistic I’ll be perfectly good for the season,” he said. “… I’m throwing, and obviously I’m kind of progressing and working my way up further distance, more throws, just trying to be smart and not just jump off into the deep end right away. Just trying to work up to it.”
Lawrence injured his shoulder against Philadelphia on Nov. 3, sat out the next two games, and returned to start the Dec. 1 game against Houston. He suffered a concussion in that game and didn’t play again in 2024. He had to clear concussion protocol, which he did Dec. 15, before he was able to have surgery.
Lawrence had surgery on the same shoulder in February 2021 to repair a labrum injury and was limited in his participation at the Jaguars’ rookie minicamp and OTAs.
The lighter throwing load will allow Lawrence to work on his footwork, which is something Coen said needed to improve in an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio during the NFL league meeting.
On Wednesday, the second day of the team’s offseason workout program, Coen said he wouldn’t describe Lawrence’s footwork as needing significant changes, just more of a tweaking.
“If you can have core fundamentals and footwork that you believe in and that you trust in those times of crisis, you have something to actually fall back on and play with a quieted mind,” Coen said. “And so this is a great opportunity now that he is a little limited from a throwing standpoint that we can dive into the footwork, he can dive into it on his own time and really work at this thing. So he’s committed to it. It’s something that we feel strongly about that can help him continue to get better. And ultimately on Sundays, we hope that shows up.
“… He’s extremely talented, and he’s made some unbelievable plays at critical moments and led some huge comebacks. He’s played hurt. He’s done so many good things. Now it’s just about, OK, how do we fine-tune it and just tighten it up a little bit to get him in a place where he is comfortable to cut the ball loose on time and in rhythm regardless of the circumstances.”
Lawrence admitted that he has had some issues with his footwork and is glad to be addressing it this offseason, and it’s something he can do on his own at home in addition to what he does at the facility.
“I think they’ve done a really good job of this [offensive] system of really thinking through how does it tie into a quarterback’s feet,” Lawrence said. “And that’s what we’ve been talking about, and it takes some work and flipping my stance, just some little things like that that are small that many people wouldn’t notice, but it is. I have so many banked reps of the other way, I’ve got to just get all these on my own and work so once camp comes around, I’m ready to go.”
