Jags’ Lawrence feels better but will limit throwing

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said his right shoulder is feeling better but he’s not going to do much throwing this week as he tries to heal enough to play against the Panthers on Sunday.

“You never know how things are going to heal up and how quickly you’re going to recover, but right now it’s still pretty sore and still kind of working through the beginning stages of getting back,” Lawrence said. “We’ll kind of see how it goes.”

Lawrence, who suffered a sprained AC joint late in the third quarter of Sunday’s 30-12 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was at Wednesday’s practice wearing a wristband with a list of plays, but he was in shorts and a hoodie and stood behind backup quarterback C.J. Beathard during several drills.

If Lawrence doesn’t play, Beathard would make his first start since the 2020 regular-season finale with the San Francisco 49ers. Lawrence has yet to miss a game in his career, starting 49 consecutive games in the regular season and two in the playoffs since he was drafted first overall in 2021.

Lawrence’s 49 straight regular-season starts is tied with Patrick Mahomes for the second-longest active streak among quarterbacks.

This is the fourth time this season that Lawrence’s status has been in doubt because of an injury. He sprained his left knee late in the Jaguars’ victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 6 but led the Jaguars to a victory over the New Orleans Saints four days later on a Thursday night. He suffered a high ankle sprain against the Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 4 but started the following week at the Cleveland Browns, then had a concussion against the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 17 but started against the Bucs.

Lawrence said his ability to heal quickly isn’t anything mystical.

“I’m blessed with some good genes,” he said. “I’m young, too. That helps. I’m still young and can recover quickly. So I’m sure as I get older maybe that changes a little bit. But I think it’s partly that stuff that I have no control over.

“Our training staff does a great job. Our medical team, I think we have great plans for coming back and being able to get back quickly. I think they’ve done a great job of just taking me through different protocols and strengthening whatever it is, treatment, strengthening all those things to stay on top of it. Part of it, too, is preparing your body a certain way to where you limit injuries, but when they do come up, you kind of minimize them, so I think it’s a mixture of all those things.”

But Lawrence also admitted that an injury to his throwing shoulder might be tougher to overcome quickly than his previous injuries.

“Kind of hard to work around that than other body parts and things that are bothering you,” Lawrence said. “… We’ll just have to see how it feels each day. I’m doing everything I can to be able to play but I don’t know what that looks like quite yet.”