{"id":220016,"date":"2026-04-06T01:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T01:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/220016\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T01:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T01:35:10","slug":"the-jacksonville-jaguars-are-now-paying-their-two-no-1-draft-picks-385-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/220016\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jacksonville Jaguars Are Now Paying Their Two No. 1 Draft Picks $385 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jacksonville Jaguars finished third in the AFC last season with a 13-4 record, but there were some lean years at the beginning of the decade. Over the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, the Jaguars won a total of just four games. They wound up with the first overall pick in both the 2021 and 2022 NFL Drafts.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the Jaguars drafted quarterback Trevor Lawrence<\/a>. The following year, the team shored up the other side of the ball with the selection of defensive end Travon Walker.<\/p>\n

Both players have turned out to be long-term pillars of the franchise. The Jaguars extended Lawrence with a five-year deal in 2024, and they just offered Walker a four-year contract. Walker’s deal is worth $110 million, while Lawrence’s deal is for $275 million. Collectively, that’s $385 million committed to the team’s two No. 1 picks.<\/p>\n

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Logan Bowles\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Walker’s deal also includes $77 million guaranteed, with $50 million of that guarantee due at signing. With an average annual value of $27.5 million, Walker will be the 12th-highest-paid edge rusher on an annual basis. This new deal will give him quite the raise; his fifth-year option in 2026 was worth a fully guaranteed $15.196 million.<\/p>\n

In 60 career games, Walker has 200 tackles, 27.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. He’s also been quite consistent, missing just five games in four years.<\/p>\n

Walker played through wrist and knee injuries last season and saw his numbers drop as a result. He’ll look to bounce back in 2026. Meanwhile, Lawrence will try to build on one of the best seasons of his career.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Lawrence threw for 4,007 yards, 29 touchdowns (a career high) and 12 interceptions. He also ran for a career-best 359 yards and nine rushing touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Lawrence inked his five-year extension during the summer of 2024. At the time of signing, his deal was tied for the largest in NFL history, alongside Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow<\/a>. Lawrence then promptly had the worst season of his career, losing four games to start the year and bowing out early after a shoulder injury and a concussion. He turned things around in 2025 while also starting in all 17 games.<\/p>\n

The Jaguars will likely make other moves before the team gets back on the field. They’ve shown they’re willing to pay to help the franchise reach its first Super Bowl in franchise history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jacksonville Jaguars finished third in the AFC last season with a 13-4 record, but there were some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,13170,5011],"class_list":{"0":"post-220016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news","11":"tag-travon-walker","12":"tag-trevor-lawrence"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}