Insider shares massive update on rumor involving Steelers, Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence

Less than a week after a shocking rumor surfaced claiming that the Pittsburgh Steelers "made inquiries to the" Jacksonville Jaguars "about a trade for" quarterback Trevor Lawrence, Lawrence made it clear on Monday that he is "not going to Pittsburgh" this offseason. 

There may not have been much to the original story in the first place. 

"Here’s one more nugget. Per a source with direct knowledge of the situation, the Steelers did not call the Jaguars about Lawrence," Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reported on Monday. 

Pittsburgh theoretically wouldn't have had anything to lose in calling Jacksonville about Lawrence's availability, considering the AFC North club currently doesn't have a legitimate starting quarterback under contract for 2025. However, ESPN's Michael DiRocco insisted last Thursday that there was "no chance" the Jaguars would part ways with the 25-year-old with a no-trade clause attached to the five-year contract extension he signed last offseason.

New Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen is among those associated with the club who are still high on Lawrence. The signal-caller struggled this past season before he was sidelined in December with a shoulder injury and a concussion.  

"As we understand it," Florio continued on Monday, "the folks at the highest levels of the franchise remain fully committed to Lawrence. If someone from the Jaguars did indeed tell Ryan Burr of the Big Ten Network that the Steelers called about Lawrence, it was possibly someone within the organization who isn’t as committed — and who is hoping to entice someone to make ownership an offer for Lawrence that wouldn’t be refused."

Presumably, Jacksonville would only approach Lawrence about possibly waiving his no-trade clause this winter due to concerns about his health or durability. Florio suggested that "a lower-level Jaguars employee deliberately leaked that the Steelers called about Lawrence to introduce the possibility of a Lawrence trade to the league at large."

For now, this seems to be a nothing-to-see-here story that will be forgotten about long before Week 1 of the 2025 season arrives. With that said, one wonders if Lawrence would waive his no-trade clause to join a team other than the Steelers before the draft on April 24.