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Trent Baalke has done a decent job returning the Jacksonville Jaguars to respectability. Fully inheriting a franchise that had gone an abysmal 1-15 the season prior in 2021, he drafted Trevor Lawrence first overall in that year's draft and has since overseen his development into a future franchise quarterback.
But as the one-time Pro Bowler enters the final year of his contract, there have been concerns about his future at Duval. Baalke addressed them in a press conference on Thursday, saying:
"I spoke with his agency again last night. We’re working, but you can’t force this stuff... But we’re glad it got completed when it did so we could go into this offseason program knowing that’s behind us and we can move forward.
"Ownership is involved, obviously. Coach is involved; we’re going to put our best foot forward and hope to get something accomplished here."
Lawrence, meanwhile, shared similar sentiments in his presser on Tuesday:
"We love it here and I love where we're headed as an organization and feel like I'm just getting better every year, and my best ball's definitely ahead of me. So, from that standpoint, obviously that would be great."
Trent Baalke discusses strategy for upcoming 2024 NFL Draft
The Trent Baalke era has so far led to mixed results for the Jaguars.
In his first full season at the helm, he had to oversee a massive controversy involving head coach Urban Meyer, who was fired with four games left. Doug Pederson then came in for 2022 and orchestrated a monstrous mid-season turnaround, clinching the AFC South for the first time and going all the way to the Divisional Round.
The team then looked poised to clinch the division again in 2023, but a late-season collapse eliminated them from contention, forcing Baalke back on the draft board for 2024. In the same Thursday presser, he discussed his plans for next week:
"You don’t know what’s going to happen, one through 16. You think you got an idea, you go in with a pretty good idea of what it looks like and what your options might be. We’re not there yet, we’ve still got a couple of days going through. But we like how it’s shaping up and we’ve still got some work to do.”
Jacksonville has nine picks ahead of next week, including No. 17. Cornerback is said to be their most pressing need, with Darious Williams being released and replaced by Ronald Darby and Tyson Campbell entering the final year of his contract.
