Jacksonville Jaguars 2024 positional outlooks: Quarterback

• The end of 2023 was an injury-related fluke for Trevor Lawrence, right?

Lawrence suffered a high-ankle sprain, a concussion and a throwing shoulder sprain between the fourth quarter of Jacksonville’s Week 13 loss to Cincinnati and the third quarter of its Week 16 loss at Tampa Bay, forcing him to miss the first game of his NFL career in Week 17 after 51 consecutive starts (including the postseason).

Before his first injury, the Jaguars had gone 8-3. After, their 28-28 tie with the Bengals broke Cincinnati’s way, and Jacksonville went 1-5 to end the year.

Lawrence completed 60% of his passes for 1,012 yards with one touchdown for every interception, seven apiece, over his final four appearances. He started the campaign by completing 67.9% of his passes for 3,004 yards with 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 12 games.

It’s that simple, right? If Lawrence weren’t battered and bruised to close the campaign, the Jaguars would have reached postseason action for a second-consecutive season, no?

We’ll never know. But the upcoming season is Lawrence’s best opportunity to prove his and the team’s slide over the final six games of 2023 were flukes.

• Can Lawrence cut down on turnovers?

Lawrence’s 60 turnovers committed since he entered the NFL in 2021 lead the league.

In fairness to Lawrence, more than half, 32, were dealt in the 21 games between his rookie season (22) and his injury-ridden stretch to end the 2023 campaign (10). But he averaged nearly one turnover per game (0.97) otherwise, with 15 interceptions and 13 fumbles lost from Week 1 of 2022 up to when he went down against Cincinnati.

In total, Lawrence has pitched 39 interceptions and lost 21 fumbles in his career.

Pederson believes these are correctable issues, the fumbles in particular.

“You can fix it. Obviously, interceptions are going to happen but it’s the pocket stuff. It’s the fumbling in the pocket, out of the pocket. That’s the part that we can help him with, the ball security stuff,” Pederson said in March.

“It’s hard for young players because they feel like they can make every play. It’s okay to throw the ball away. We just have to keep educating him in these situations. You can coach it. You are the guy that’s touching the ball every snap. We have to make smart decisions, too.”

Lawrence produced a 1.76-to-1 total touchdown-to-turnover ratio in 2022, when Jacksonville rose from owning the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft to clinching a…