Trevor Lawrence's 2025 season will be a pivotal one in his NFL journey, but before he can dive into the work new coach Liam Coen has planned for him, he has health benchmarks to clear as he returns from shoulder surgery.
As of now, Lawrence doesn't have a firm deadline or targeted date for his return. He said Wednesday he's "very optimistic" he'll "be perfectly good for the season," but is focusing on "pacing ourselves."
"The amount of throws might be a little lighter to start and work our way up, just until I get really, fully back," Lawrence said of his offseason plan. "I imagine that and maybe just some handoff stuff will be a little limited, but besides that I think that won't last too long. I'm throwing and obviously progressing my way up, further distance, more throws, just trying to be smart and not jump into the deep end right away. Just trying to work up to it."
Lawrence is returning from surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder to repair an AC joint injury, and while it isn't the shoulder he uses to throw, it's still an important element in playing quarterback. He has a few months between now and the start of camp, but his timeline remains paramount because Coen wants to fix Lawrence's footwork with the goal of finding a new level of consistency as a passer.
Attempting to do so while rehabilitating an injury isn't the easiest task. Lawrence knows it will be crucial to his adjustment to Coen's system, which relies on a foundation of consistent footwork in order to work through progressions and find open targets.
"There's some things I've known about my footwork over the years of playing that I felt like have been a little bit of a weakness," he said. "So, there's some things that we've talked about of just, what are those things? What are we identifying as things to work on? And then the system is built around timing and tying your feet to your progression and playing on time. So it allows you to get back side, it allows you to get to checkdowns or whatever it may be, and you can feel comfortable playing on time. More than any system I've ever learned, it's structured and based off that.
"And it takes some work. Flipping my stance, just some little things like that that are small that many people wouldn't notice, but I have so many banked reps of the other way, I've got to just get all of these on my own and work them so once camp comes around I'm ready to go."
Although he's not yet at 100 percent, Lawrence will be working with Coen on these details during OTAs. As he said Wednesday, he's "getting there."
Jaguars fans will hope the destination arrives well before the games start to matter.
