Trevor Lawrence isn’t hiding his optimism when it comes to the 2024 Jacksonville Jaguars.

“I think this is the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here,” the quarterback told Bleacher Report. “I’m really excited to just get to work. We have to prove it. It doesn’t really matter what you say in July, you have to prove it in the fall. But I really like the group we have.”

Lawrence getting the chance to work with his best roster in his fourth season would be the next step in something of a roller coaster start to his career from a team perspective.

Jacksonville went 3-14 during his rookie campaign that saw head coach Urban Meyer get fired before year’s end as Lawrence led the league with 17 interceptions. However, everything changed in 2022 under head coach Doug Pederson, as the signal-caller was a Pro Bowler who led the Jaguars to an AFC South crown and overcame a 27-0 deficit to stun the Los Angeles Chargers in the playoffs.

Even though they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs by seven points in a hard-fought Divisional Round game after that, it seemed like the Jaguars were here to stay with high expectations heading into the 2023 campaign.

An 8-3 start last season did nothing to change that, and it appeared as if Lawrence and Co. would be fighting for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Yet they lost five of their final six games as Lawrence dealt with injury concerns and missed the playoffs entirely.

So does that collapse mean the team’s mindset is different than it was a year ago coming off a playoff appearance?

“It has to be a little bit,” the quarterback said. “I trust our process, and I think that’s something you can tweak and adjust as you go to make you better. But you do have to trust your preparation. Last year was unfortunate that we finished the season the way we did just because we started so well. A mix of injuries and really just not executing down the stretch and not being able to win a few of those games that we needed to at the end of the year is the reason we didn’t get the opportunity to go to the playoffs.

“We know what we have to do. We know there’s just not a lot of room for error in this league. You have to bring it every week. And you have to find a way to play your best ball at the end of the season. It seemed like we peaked a little too soon last year. A couple things didn’t go our way that we didn’t always have control of, but the stuff we do control with how we prepare and the intensity we have and not losing focus at all throughout the year. Those things, I think as a team we’ve learned a lot.”

Those lessons will be important given the wide receiver turnover the offense is facing.

Jacksonville watched Calvin Ridley sign with the division-rival Tennessee Titans and Zay Jones join the Arizona Cardinals in free agency, leaving Christian Kirk as the only remaining playmaker from the team’s top three wide receivers in 2023.

Still, the front office didn’t just sit back and do nothing. Instead, it drafted LSU’s Brian Thomas Jr. in the first round after he posted 1,177 receiving yards and 17 touchdown catches in his final collegiate season and took away a go-to option from the Buffalo Bills by signing Gabe Davis.

“Those two guys are going to add even more versatility to our wide receiver room,” Lawrence said. “You look at Brian, really fast guy and great ball skills. Just going to add another dimension of stretching the field for us. Gabe is similar, he’s a little bit of a bigger guy and really physical. Great ball skills and will go up and get it. Can do a lot in the run game, can really do whatever you need him to.”

While Davis is proven with 27 career touchdown catches and Thomas brings sky-high potential, getting adjusted to the new weapons will still be a priority in training camp and the preseason.

“Just building chemistry,” Lawrence said. “Calvin was only here last year, but we started to build chemistry as the year went on. Not having him, that’s a guy you have to replace. I think Gabe and Brian and all the guys that we have are more than capable of doing that. But you have to build the chemistry.

“And with Zay, I had a really great relationship and chemistry on the field with Zay. So that’s something where you kind of have to build that with Gabe, too. Whether it’s him or Brian, guys are going to move around positions, so it could be either one of them. But that’ll take a little bit of time. I like the start that we got in the OTAs this year. You really have to hone that in during training camp. So there will be an extra emphasis on communication throughout training camp just talking to those guys and really getting on the same page. That doesn’t happen overnight but you can expedite the process if you’re really intentional about it.”

Taking leadership in those team-building processes is exactly what the Jaguars had in mind when they agreed to a five-year, $275 million contract extension that features $200 million in guarantees that keeps the quarterback with the team through the 2030 campaign.

It was anything but a surprise that Jacksonville did what it could to keep him since it made him the face of the franchise with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 NFL draft and has since seen him make a Pro Bowl, throw for more than 4,000 yards in back-to-back seasons and reach the playoffs, but Lawrence still appreciated the public vote of confidence.

“They’ve always backed me and I’ve felt like I’ve always had the confidence of the organization and my teammates,” he said. “I’ve always felt that, but for them to put their name behind it and make it official and get a deal done feels really good. It feels really good stability wise, obviously the money is great and it’s an amazing opportunity for our future. But even more so just the stability of being here and being able to solidify this as home for the next five, seven years, whatever it ends up being. That’s a blessing to be able to have in this business.”

Being the face of the franchise leads to plenty of opportunities, and he took advantage of one by partnering with American Eagle for the brand’s Live Your Life campaign.

The campaign focuses on self-expression, acceptance, optimism and living life to the fullest and also features tennis star Coco Gauff and actors Kristine Froseth and Nikki Rodriguez.

“It’s been great,” Lawrence said of the partnership. “American Eagle has been a brand I’ve worn about or known about since I was a kid. It’s been cool to see them make this push and come back hard and rebrand all their stuff. All the stuff, when I looked at it, the style is right on point with the stuff that I wear. It fit, and all the people have been great to work with.”

He also explained the Live Your Life campaign appealed to him.

“Living your life to the fullest is the campaign, and I think that’s fitting because I’m very grateful to do what I love,” he said. “And that allows me to live my life to the fullest and hopefully inspire people to do what they love to do. It’s not football for everybody, but whatever your passion is, it’s important to put all your energy into finding a way to do that. Because if you do what you love it doesn’t feel like work.”

Doing what he loves this season will still entail facing an AFC South that is loaded with young quarterback talent.

And Jacksonville’s late-season collapse opened the door for the Houston Texans to make the playoffs and become the darlings of the division heading into a new year. C.J. Stroud was the Offensive Rookie of the Year, and expectations are even higher for his second season after the team added four-time Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs at wide receiver.

Throw in the Indianapolis Colts returning a healthy Anthony Richardson and the Titans surrounding Will Levis with DeAndre Hopkins, Tony Pollard, Ridley and Tyler Boyd, and it is easy to somewhat overlook the Jaguars.

Lawrence doesn’t necessarily mind.

“I really felt like we gave the other teams in our division an opportunity to make the playoffs when it should have been our spot,” he said. “So from that standpoint, yes a little bitter about that with an extra chip on my shoulder. But as far as with the other quarterbacks, those guys are really good players and they’re going to make our division tough without a doubt.

“In our division after last year, a lot of people are forgetting about us. And that’s just fine. Sometimes it’s better to be under the radar. We’re excited to get the opportunity to prove ourselves.”

It would be easy for Lawrence to see that quarterback competition within his own division as an opportunity to make some individual statements from a numbers perspective.

After all, he isn’t far removed from finishing in seventh in MVP voting during the 2022 campaign. He also threw for 4,016 yards, 21 touchdowns and 14 interceptions even with some inconsistency last year.

While he will surely be looking to cut down his interceptions and mirror his 2022 numbers with 25 touchdown passes to eight picks, surpassing his competition from an individual production standpoint isn’t what he’s interested in at this stage.

“Just winning at this point of my career,” he said. “Obviously, my career started a little rough in year one, but year two got a little better and last year we didn’t quite play as well as a team or individually. Didn’t have the year I wanted. So I think now the main focus is winning the Super Bowl. That’s what the ultimate goal is, that’s why you play the game. I’m not going to tiptoe around that.”

Jaguars fans surely wouldn’t have it any other way.