Trevor Lawrence was so caught off guard by the rumor that the Steelers were trying to trade for him that he even had his agent call ESPN’s Adam Schefter to see if it was true.
The Jaguars quarterback was the subject of a reported trade request by the quarterback-needy Steelers last week.
Jacksonville quickly shut down the idea of Lawrence being on the block – telling ESPN there was “no chance” they were moving the former No.1 overall draft pick.
Lawrence, 25, was asked about the rumor during an appearance on FanDuel TV’s “Up & Adams” on Friday and called his agent sending the news to him as an almost “heart drops” moment.
Then he tried to let cooler heads prevail but still needed to make sure Jacksonville wasn’t entertaining the reported offer.
“You kind of think, I have a no-trade clause in my contract. I would know about it if I was getting traded or if that was something that was going to happen,” Lawrence said. “I’d have to be on board with it, which I’m not. I’m happy here in Jacksonville. We want to win a Super Bowl here and I think we can do that.
“My agent reached out to Adam Schefter and was just like, ‘hey, you hear anything about this?’ (Coach) Liam (Coen) texted me the day after it came out and said ‘I shouldn’t even have to say this, but that’s not coming from us.’ He didn’t even have to send that. There was no doubt on my side.”
The Steelers potentially inquiring about Lawrence would make sense after Pittsburgh split last season between Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, ending in a wild-card round loss to the Ravens.
Neither is under contract in 2025.
The Jaguars are looking to start fresh with first-year coach Liam Coen after a disappointing 4-13 season that got Doug Pederson fired after three years with the team.
But all signs point to that future containing Lawrence, who signed a five-year, $275 million contract with the Jaguars before the start of the 2024 season.
Lawrence played just 10 games last season due to multiple injuries. He threw for 2,045 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions before opting to have offseason surgery on his AC joint sprain.
