QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2024
(On how the offseason has been for him) “It’s been good. It’s been really good; it’s been nice physically
being able to get healthy and getting back into the swing of things. Been able to travel a little bit, do
some stuff. Now, we’re back rolling. It comes quick, but just excited to be back with the guys that were
here and some of the new guys in here. It’s exciting getting everybody back together.”
(On when he felt one hundred percent again) “It took a while, I’d probably say March. When March hit, I
felt really good lifting and doing everything totally normal. I’ve been so used to the back half of the
season, adjusting to everything whether it was working out or throwing or practice or whatever it was, I
would workout but still modified. Until March, I’d say that’s when I started to feel one hundred percent
and do the stuff I normally do. I think I’m kind of getting back into the shape I want to be and train the
way I wanted to. It took a little while.”
(On his early impressions of OL Mitch Morse and WR Gabe Davis) “They seem great. Gabe seems like a
super hard worker from what I’ve heard about him, he’s a guy that likes to work, wants to work, really
competitive, goes about his business the right way. Obviously, we haven’t really gotten a chance to work
together much yet, but that’s starting now. It’ll be great to see him move around, and I know he’s getting
back healthy too. Mitch, kind of similar deal, I’ve heard nothing but good things from either people in
Buffalo, whether it’s [Bills QB] Josh Allen, that’s one of my friends. Obviously at quarterback over there,
he played with him the last five years and they have a good relationship. That’s exciting to hear about
their relationship and how they did things there. To have two guys from Buffalo that their reputations
speak really highly of them and how they carry themselves, I think they’re great additions for our team.
It’s going to raise the play of everybody’s level around them, too.”
(On if he looks forward to offseason workouts as a team) “Definitely. I think it’s probably a different
perspective, I can’t speak for everyone necessarily, but in general, I think our team has a really good feel
for the offseason and how to approach it, how to attack it. We have a lot of the guys that are here,
almost everybody is here unless they can’t be for whatever reason. Guys try to be here, so that’s
something I appreciate and for me, we live here year-round. I’m going to be training anyways, so it’s nice
to have all of the guys back into town, one, just friends with a lot of them so it’s nice to have my buddies
back, then two, you actually get to workout together and do stuff and train and start to get your
chemistry before training camp happens. There’s a lot of benefits to it, like I said, I’m here anyways, so
I’m glad everybody is back and we get to all do it together and train and workout and move towards
where we want to be. I think it’s great, I’m always excited when we start back up.”
(On the emphasis of what the team needs to do from now until June) “Just recapping last year and
you’ve got to move on pretty quickly because it’s a new year. It doesn’t matter who won the Super Bowl
last year, now everyone is kind of turning the page and going onto 2024. You move on, but you have to
recap, because we only had that one team meeting right before we left to end our season last year. You
talk about it, but it’s hard to digest that in one night before that meeting. We talked about and
addressed some of the things that happened, maybe some things that we didn’t do well, some things
that we might’ve done okay and need to improve on, just really everything. We’ve done that the last two
days and from Coach Pederson’s [Head Coach Doug Pederson] perspective, from Press’ [Offensive
Coordinator Press Taylor] perspective, and then players, some stuff too. It’s been really good, I think
we’re heading in the right direction and we know what we need to do. We got to attack this offseason
and be really intentional, there’s very tangible things that we need to get better at, obviously I’m not
going into all of the details right now, but there’s things we need to get better at for myself, for us as an
offense, as a team. We just put all of those out there and now we’re all on the same page of where we’re
heading, where we’re going, what we need to work on. I think it’s necessary to do that at the beginning
of the offseason You don’t want to waste time. You don’t want to just come here and workout and go
home and not really knowing where you’re heading and what you want to work on. I think it was good to
get everybody centered and know where we’re going.”
(On how he digested the last six weeks of the season) “It was obviously a disappointing season, some of
the stuff I said after the year, but I think just being removed from it, it’s a lot easier to see the good after
the fact. Not necessarily the good things that happened but use the bad things as good to make yourself
better moving forward. There’s just so many things that I learned last season, whether it’s trying to stay
healthy and dealing with some things that I haven’t had to deal with in my career or not playing as
consistent as I wanted to have played to finish the year, to whatever it may be. Maybe that means some
expectations that we had for ourselves as a team, not playing well in big games, all these things that
have gone through my head. I think being removed from it, you can take stuff from that and use that to
make you better. In the moment, it’s hard to see the big picture. I’m thankful for that, all the difficult
times in my career, I think back to my rookie season, has made me a lot better for it. You just have to use
it, so that’s what I plan to do from last season. I think our approach as a team, too, it’s a waste if you
don’t use it. You went through that experience and then you don’t use it, it’s double bad because it
sucked going through it and you didn’t get better from it. I think that’s our mindset, that’s my mindset
moving forward and so many things to learn from.”
(On what he thought when he heard about OLB Josh Allen’s new contract) “I was excited for him. Super
excited, obviously one, the season he had, but just the guy that he’s been. He was here two years before
I got here and in the three years I’ve been here, he’s just consistent. One of the hardest workers on the
team, dependable. As a person in the locker room, he’s the right type of guy you want. It checks all the
boxes that you want as a leader on your team and obviously a great player too. I was just excited to get
him back because there’s a lot of teams that would’ve loved to have Josh Allen on their team. I’m excited
we got that done and he’s going to be a Jag for a long time. I think that was a big box checked for us and
I’m excited that he’s here. Obviously, really happy for him on just the personal and life side. That’s a big
deal and he can take care of his family forever or for a long time. I’m excited for him and he definitely
earned it.”
(On if he’s thought about his contract extension yet) “Yeah, there’s definitely been some conversations
as far as where that’s at now. It’s not really my focus, I’d love to obviously be a Jag for as long as possible.
We love it here and I love where we’re headed as an organization and feel like I’m just getting better. My
best ball is definitely ahead of me. From that standpoint, obviously yeah, that would be great. But like I
said, going into my fourth year, it’s not like this is necessarily going to be my last season. There’s a lot
that could happen. It’s not really my focus right now, at the end of the day, my job isn’t going to change
whether I get extended or not before this season. My job is to go win games and to be the best I can be
for this team so we can have a chance to win the Super Bowl. Even if I get the contract extension, that’s
still my job even more so, there’s even more expectation and pressure on that. For me, I have the same
focus and the same mindset. I can’t lie, obviously it would be nice to have that done and feel good about
it, but no, it’s not really the focus right now. I know where we’re at, I know where we’re heading and I
know what I have to do. I know there’s some improvements that I have to move going forward.”
(On what he’s trying to work on particularly throughout the offseason) “I think the big thing in this
portion in the year, a lot of it is physical. It’s a little bit of mental and meetings, you have some set times
to meet and kind of intro some of the playbook and just scheme and all of those things. For some of the
new guys, and older guys because there’s things that change every year that you adjust in your scheme.
There’s a lot of stuff that we’re adjusting and trying to make better moving forward, so that’s going to be
good for us. So, we’ve got to learn that and get comfortable with it, but really, physically, this is the time
of year where you can devote most of your time to physically training, getting stronger, getting your body
ready for what’s going to come. That takes a lot of time, you can’t just start doing that in training camp.
It’s too late, you’re going to break down. That’s really what I focus on this time of year, is getting my body
where I want it to be, come training camp. Then, obviously you start building the chemistry with guys
too that are new, especially. There are guys that I’ve played with now, two, three years, that you still
work and build that. But the guys that are new, you’ve got to get out there and get the reps, get the
throws, get the timing, get to work with the guys up front, all of that stuff.”
(On importance of getting on the same page with WR Gabe Davis) “Really important. We have, it’s April,
we’ve got until end of July until training camp starts. You have all of this time to get ready for training
camp, so when training camp comes, you feel pretty good. You don’t want to be trying to figure out
timing when training camp comes. You want to feel sharp and crisp so you can use that time to just really
get better at what we do, our concepts, our schemes, advancing all the stuff that we do whether that’s
checks and communicating all of those things. That’s really what that’s more for, not trying to just time
up routes with guys. You’re kind of behind the eightball if you’re at that point.”
(On if he feels the team has an upper hand than the other teams in the division improving their offenses)
“Yeah, I do. Stuff happens every offseason, I think you got to still play the season. You’ve got to play 17
games and a lot can happen and everyone wants to make a huge deal in the offseason of different moves
that happen. We have a really good division, there’s no denying that. We’ve got good quarterbacks, good
offenses, good defenses. It’s a really competitive division. For us, it doesn’t change anything. You’re going
to have to go through all these teams anyways if you want to go win a Super Bowl. You’re not going to
dodge and get to play teams that aren’t very good. There’s really not that many in the league anyways. It
always changes by the time the season comes, some teams that you think might be great maybe don’t
have a great year. Some teams that you didn’t think were going to be really any good, have a great year.
There’s a lot of work that has to be done from now until training camp and through training camp to get
ready for the year. I like the guys that we have and obviously the draft is coming up too, I’m sure we’ll get
some more pieces there. Just continue to get some good younger guys, but I love the guys we have and
what we’ve started to build here, we’ve got some new pieces this offseason on the defensive side of the
ball. What they’re doing over there looks great, it looks awesome and Ryan [Defensive Coordinator Ryan
Nielsen], I love him, his scheme and what he’s trying to do. I’m excited about that too, obviously that
doesn’t really have anything to do with me but that’s going to help. I like where we’re at, Gabe [WR
Gabe Davis] was huge, Mitch [OL Mitch Morse] was a great pickup. All of the guys that we got back that
we resigned, I’m excited.”
(On what stood out about Atlanta’s defense last season when facing Defensive Coordinator Ryan Nielsen)
“I would say, and who knows, I haven’t really talked to him in depth about what he’s going to do here
necessarily, but he’s really good at disrupting players; his scheme, his defense is really good at disrupting
timing. They press, they’re really physical on the outside, not a lot of free access of letting guys get off
the ball. They mix in the shell coverages a lot, even with some pressures. They’re really good up front,
run discipline is really good. Those are just the main things that I’d say, especially in coverage. It’s tough
when they press and they play man, they press and they play zone. They disguise stuff really well, they’re
physical. When guys don’t get out and they aren’t on time and you have a good pass rush, it’s really hard
as a quarterback because then you’re moving around, your timing is thrown off, you’re trying to find a
spot to throw, your receiver isn’t there yet because they got pressed. I think they do, or he does, now us,
a great job of that.”
(On if he expects Offensive Coordinator Press Taylor to be calling plays) “Whichever way that goes, we’re
going to make the most of it and it’s going to be great. I don’t know, I haven’t had any conversations
about anything necessarily changing or staying the same. I don’t really know, I’m with you guys. I think
we’ve had success with both guys calling plays in the past, even last year, we could’ve been better
offensively, but we did have some success. I do like the continuity, the consistency that I have with Press,
I know him really well. I think that’s a good thing, that we’re keeping that intact. It’s hard as a
quarterback to change around and change systems, change play callers all of the time. That can be
difficult. So, I like where we’re at, I think that we’ve made some really necessary changes this offseason
already, now we’ve just got to implement them and get great at it. I think it’s about creating an identity
and being really good at what we do. I think we have a clear vision and picture of what that is. I’m
excited and I’m expecting it to be Press at this point because that’s kind of the direction we’ve been
heading and what I expect, I’m not hearing anything. That’s where we’re going and I’m excited for it.”
(On how much he views the team as his own offense) “A lot, it’s our offense. At the end of the day, I’m
the one out there pulling the trigger, but it’s our offense and they do a really good job of including me in
things that maybe we might want to change or something that we did last year that maybe didn’t work
too well or that doesn’t make a lot of sense in our scheme. There’s been a lot of changes that we’ve
made, so I’m excited to really see those on the field with the guys. That’s obviously what gives you your
answer, you’ve got to do what works and what our guys do well. We got to check that box, but I’m really
excited to see how the offense looks and I do view it as my offense. At the end of the day, I’m the one
out there, pulling the trigger, running the plays, running the show. I got to be able to perform and like
what we’re doing. I feel like I’ve taken a lot of ownership of speaking up of maybe when I don’t like
something or saying I really love this, let’s do more of that, or whatever it is. They’ve done a good job of
communicating with me and talking me through things and listening to my feedback.”
(On what he learned about himself through multiple injuries last year) “I don’t really regret necessarily
the decisions I made, I think the thing to learn about it is maybe the way I play. Maybe there’s sometimes
where I can avoid some hits, you’ve just got to stay healthy. The teams that get better every week and
that stay healthy are usually the teams that go pretty far into the playoffs and win the Super Bowl.
Especially at quarterback, you’ve got to stay healthy. That’s something that I’ve learned, also too, if
you’re not healthy and you can’t practice, it’s hard to play well. That’s something I want to take more
ownership of, making sure whatever it is I have to do, maybe it’s taking less hits, maybe it’s throwing the
ball away or doing certain things or whatever I can do to stay healthy is just being able to continue to
practice and prepare during the week so I feel like I can put my best performance out there on Sunday
and give us a chance to win. I feel like late in the year, I didn’t do that enough. I had a handful of games
where I didn’t feel like I played well and missed some throws and did some stuff that was
uncharacteristic. I regret how it turned out, but I always said, if I can play and I feel like I’m not hurting
the team, maybe some weeks I did, I feel like I did the best I could and went out there. I would expect
the same of my teammates, so if I expect that from guys late in the season to play and to really play
through some stuff, it’s football you’re going to have to, then I’m going to have to do the same. I felt like
that’s what I was doing. So no, I think the biggest thing is just getting my body to a point where I can
withstand a lot of hits or whatever it is, but also limiting some of them as much as I can. It’s a balance of
all of that.”
LINEBACKER FOYESADE OLUOKUN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2024
(On why the timing was right for his contract extension) “Initially with the contract, the guarantee was
up after two years, so it was really depending on what the team wanted to do. I talked to my agent and
said if they’re trying to keep me around, I’m playing pretty good football right now, I want to stay a
Jaguar. I talked with Coach Nielsen [Defensive Coordinator Ryan Nielsen] before this, before the
extension and everything. I had a lot of confidence with where he could take my game personally. I just
wanted to play for coaches who trust me and an organization who trusted me, rather than hitting the
whole market again after this year and stuff. It kind of gives me some security, helps the team out with
cap space probably. But at the end of the day, it’s about if you guys respect me and like me around, I
definitely want to be here.”
(On his impressions of Defensive Coordinator Ryan Nielsen) “Yeah, I knew a lot of the guys in Atlanta, I
hit them up right away about what kind of guy he is, how he coaches and stuff. Pretty hardnosed, a lot of
good energy coming from him. Already runs a straight ship, I think the guys will respond very well to
that, keeping guys accountable. We’re all going to play as hard as we can for him.”
(On if there will be a defensive scheme change) “We really haven’t gotten too deep into the schematics,
but just watching the way that Atlanta played last year and the Saints before that. I think he [Defensive
Coordinator Ryan Nielsen] got a lot of his defense from that. Just watching the way they played, they
play aggressive, they attack, they’re downhill, they’re fast all over. It’s all about effort and I think that’s
where he’s going to keep our standard to. Playing hard, playing aggressive. If we just take those, outside
of scheme, just take that style of play, I think a good deal of things will happen for us.”
(On how a new style of defense can help a team or if it can get stale) “I don’t know about stale, it’s the
NFL so every week you’re playing for your life, you’re playing for your job, you’re playing for a lot of
things, whatever your ‘why’ is. I don’t think anything ever gets stale and monotonous, I think a new guy
coming in with his energy and passion, you feel that. That might give you a little jumpstart. But at the
end of the day, what you were doing last year wasn’t working. So now, that’s why you have this new
coach and we’re all excited to get this thing jumped off on the right way and improve ourselves, improve
our defense. We’ve got new guys coming in who have played on high caliber defenses, so whatever
they’re seeing, we’re all receptive to it. Whatever the coach wants us to do, we’re receptive to it because
we know we have to be better than last year.”
(On if he looked forward to getting back in the building with the team) “I get excited, just to get that first
workout with people start breathing, lungs heavy. We’re getting back to being athletes, to how we’re
supposed to be. It’s part of the job description and then everybody coming in and doing it together, just
makes it all exciting. I like being around my boys and stuff. It just makes the job so much more fun.”
(On what DL Arik Armstead brings to the defense) “Kind of like what I was saying earlier, he’s a great
player, part of a great defense. Not only his ability on the field but his leadership as well, holding that
whole room to a standard. Being able to be an example and then coming in and seeing what he sees we
need to do differently, trying to implement things he knows works in the whole defense.”
(On what he focuses on with his game during the offseason) “At this time, right now it’s getting my body
back to play in shape. Obviously, it’s a long way away, but you want to make sure you’re doing it the right
way, putting those building blocks in, not trying to go too fast, making sure you’re still up to speed
though. Moving right and then just learning the game; we’ve got a new coordinator, a new scheme,
watching the game, watching the film, being able to play fast when your number is called when we start
getting back out there.”
(On how long it took for last year to be put behind him) “Yeah, that’ll never be in the rearview. Maybe
next year after the season. I got a lot of questions on it through the offseason and it’s hard to think
about it just when it even started. We started off winning, but we weren’t winning convincingly how
maybe the score might’ve showed it, but we knew we weren’t playing our best football. I think a lot of
those things caught up to us. Then, trying to right our wrongs a little too late in the season. Then, it’s a
little more stressful when teams are hitting their stride and we’re trying to find out how to do things
right. That hurt for sure, and I think that’ll fuel us, everybody is committed to doing things right this time
around. We don’t want to get in that position again. It starts from the first game all the way to the last.
Just keep improving every week, no matter what the scoreboard is. Keeping our standard every week,
because sometimes you win games that you didn’t play your best, now you don’t learn from them if
you’re not trying to get better. I think that kind of happened to us and we’re not going to do that this
year.”
(On how much his role changes scheme to scheme) “As a linebacker, you pretty much have the same job
description. Be the captain of the defense, lead them, call out what you see. Now, the techniques might
change in terms of how you play a play. It kind of is all the same being a linebacker. I have the upmost
confidence in myself to be able to adapt to whatever the scheme change is going to be, but there is
going to be a scheme change for sure.”
(On if the new style of the scheme can allow him to make more plays) “Everybody has a part in the
defense, I’ve been trusting everybody is going to do their part. I’ve talked about, I’m sure if you watched
the film, playing in lighter boxes but dominating in lighter boxes as well. Not just being able to get
through rundowns in a lighter box but being able to make your plays. I think I talked about earlier,
matching your coverages more. It’s just the way this defense is set up, but I’m excited to play in it.”
(On if the offseason changes feel like a fresh start) “Yeah, I’m definitely excited to get rolling, a breath of
fresh air. I’m not really caught up on last year, but I know I have to get better from last year. The defense
has to get better from last year. I’m very happy that everybody has that intensity, from this first day
anyway, about making the right strides towards the rest of this offseason.”
(On TE Evan Engram and OLB Josh Allen wanting to be here and the importance of buying into the team
and the locker room) “I think we have a great locker room, first and foremost. A lot of the guys always
have a chip on their shoulders, so when you come here and you’re working with other guys that have a
chip on their shoulders, it’s just infectious how much you want to play with each other, for each other,
always for the brothers. When things don’t go our way like last year, we carry a lot of the weight; those
guys that you mentioned earlier. We just want to get it right together. I feel like not getting it right, you
kind of let your brothers down a little bit. You let the guys in the organization down up top and stuff
because they feel that same pain and we do just the same. It hurt a lot. Bringing new guys in, they see
how hard we’re working, we’re trying to right our wrongs and stuff. But I think the reason we wanted to
stay is because we want to get it right and we have a beautiful opportunity as leaders here, so if they all
trust us to do it, let’s go do it.”
(On if leaving a legacy resonates with him like it does with OLB Josh Allen) “Oh, as soon as I stepped in
the league, I always wanted to take the next step and get a little bit better. Coming up to this point in my
career, it’s always about the next step, next step, becoming a better player. I feel like last year, I didn’t
take as much of a step as I wanted to, me personally. It’s all about, for me, becoming a player I always
wanted to be and always knew I could be. Then, coming into this year, like you said, leaving a legacy and
leaving a mark, I wanted to be respected around the league. For me, unfortunately, individual stats and
stuff don’t leave that mark for me. I know I need my boys to play their best and I need to play my best
and if we can keep winning games, then I’ll leave that legacy and have that respect that I feel like I want.
Josh was drafted here so his looks a little bit different than mine, just being a Jag for so long, being that
face of the franchise look on defense. I’m all happy for him and his goals may look a little bit different
than mine in that way. But now, he’s earned his contract so he’s kind of on the same path as me now.
Play his best, get the Jags more wins, that’s how to increase his legacy left here in Jacksonville.”
(On if other teams and players across the league talk about leaving legacies) “I think it’s kind of just felt,
and then when you get a third contract for me, what keeps you going is not money anymore. My
financial advisor will call me about how much and the contract, he’s probably going to hear this the first
time, I didn’t even crack a smile for real. I was kind of drab in my response, like yeah, we got the deal
done, but what am I here to do? You signed me here to win more games. I think everybody around me is
going to feel that, I’m attacking this offseason trying to do that. I’ll be happy when we make the playoffs
and win these games, that’s what I’m here for.”
(On challenge of duplicating a successful performance individually in a season) “I think you can’t be
looking in the rearview trying to do what you did last year. Your body gets older, you’ve got to be able to
improve a little bit every day, starting with OTA’s again. Get your body feeling how you need it to feel, but
you should be going back, instead of saying, ‘I need you to do that’ it’s, ‘How can I get better at that?’
Your body might slow down but there’s ways to play better still. Josh [OLB Josh Allen], he’s still young and
everything, his body will probably feel the same. So how do I improve on what I did last year, maybe in a
new scheme, what can I do, one, to play the scheme right, but two, make my plays as well for the team.”
(On a process of feeling out new coaches and Linebackers Coach Matt House) “For sure, but they attack
right away. Even that first defensive meeting, it’s pretty intense. I think they’re going to say how they
want stuff done, and we’re going to have to do what they want. Now, we’ll get some flexibility when
we’re all confident in the scheme and stuff and I’ll be able to bounce ideas off of them. But I think they
have a way they want to play, a standard that they want us to play at. We’re going to have to match
that.”
(On improvements out of OLB Travon Walker last season) “A lot of confidence in his own ability I think,
then just trusting his techniques that he’s been practicing in the offseason. Then, Josh [OLB Josh Allen]
playing well on top of that. Then, them playing off of each other definitely did well. I think a relentless
motor he’s always had, when things got tough in games, we told him we need sacks and we need
pressure on quarterbacks, I think he’s always been able to pressure the quarterback by finishing. I know
in some games, they had a lot of pressures and no sacks and they’d be on the sideline kicking
themselves. I’m like, bro, we’re winning, and they’d be kicking themselves. I’m liking that out of them,
but I think just that pressure they put on themselves in order to be, I won’t say perfect, but to be at the
highest level of football that they know they can, propelled them to play that well.”
(On why carrying last season with them to get better is important) “Because if we do what we did last
year, then we will be exactly where we were last season. It’s no joke the AFC South got better, so we got
who we got in the locker room right now and that’s who we’re going to take to war with us. If we want to
be able to come out on top in the AFC South, all of us are going to have to get better. We can’t squeak by
in games we’re not playing well. The team that plays the best in the conference is going to be able to win
these games. I don’t really care what the roster looks like, when you go in on Sundays, you play better
than the other team and you win, that’s got to be us playing better. So let’s get better every day so that
when we’re there on Sunday, we have the confidence that we know we can play.”
