The Dallas Mavericks broke the internet early in 2025 when they made the puzzling decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. This recently gave Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports the inspiration to come up with a list of NBA-style trades for a handful of NFL teams. One of them involves the Jacksonville Jaguars sending Trevor Lawrence to the NFC South.
Benjamin suggests the Jags trade Lawrence to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for Baker Mayfield, pointing out that the move would reunite head coach Liam Coen with his quarterback from 2024.
"All indications are new Jaguars head coach Liam Coen is committed to rejuvenating Lawrence's career. But what if the better bet is reuniting with Mayfield, who thrived under his direction not only in Tampa Bay but also with the Los Angeles Rams back in 2022?" Benjamin wrote. "Who's to say the scrappy Mayfield couldn't instantly command Coen's offense to the tune of an AFC South title in 2025?"
Benjamin then argues that the prospect of acquiring the talented Lawrence could incentivize the Bucs to pull the trigger.
"And why might the Buccaneers be willing to sell their unexpectedly prolific leader? Well, Lawrence is still five years younger, for one, and Tom Brady's 2020 Super Bowl title kind of set a new standard along the Gulf Coast; this swap would be all about the upside for Bucs general manager Jason Licht, who might see the chance to acquire a former no. 1 overall pick as a chance to take the Bucs from feisty to championship-caliber down the road," Benajmin said.
All things considered, this proposal would be bunkers. Baker Mayfield has enjoyed a career revival with the Buccaneers, and he's done with two different offensive coordinators at the helm: Coen in 2024 and Dave Canales the year prior. Then again, he posted career numbers with the former, so it's easy to see the appeal of a potential reunion.
Meanwhile, Lawrence showed in 2022 that he can play at a top-10 level but was held back the past two years by the team's dearth of playmakers and Doug Pederson's inadequate coaching. He's expected to bounce back with Coen taking the reins.
This begs the question, why would Tampa Bay trade a proven commodity for an imperfect quarterback? Circling back to Benjamin's pitch, Lawrence would turn the Bucs into a Super Bowl contender.
And that's the thing, it wouldn't make sense to trade Lawrence just for the sake of giving Coen a bit of continuity. He inherited Mayfield and did just fine. Who's to say he won't be able to work his magic again in Jacksonville?
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The Jaguars wouldn't trade Trevor Lawrence for Baker Mayfield
Like Trevor Lawrence Baker Mayfield was once the first overall pick. In his case, the Cleveland Browns picked him with the top selection in 2018. He showed promise early on but eventually dealt with injuries, and his performance suffered a dip.
This led Cleveland to make the puzzling decision to send Mayfield packing to the Carolina Panthers after acquiring Deshaun Watson in 2022. This has turned out to be the worst trade in NFL history.
At the same time, Mayfield has experienced several ups and downs since leaving the Browns. He flopped with the Panthers and was, for the second time in one year, traded to the Los Angeles Rams. There, he flashed the talent that made him the top pick in the draft when he stunned the Las Vegas Raiders. The former Oklahoma Sooner signed with the Bucs in 2023 and the rest is history.
By now, you may be wondering what this has to do with Trevor Lawrence, and the answer is simple. Progress isn't linear, and just because a player struggles or experiences setbacks doesn't mean he's washed up. Mayfield is proof of that.
Trevor Lawrence had experienced a similar path throughout his career, and if he manages to revive his career the way Baker Mayfield did, everyone will be praising the Jacksonville Jaguars for not giving up on their franchise quarterback and believing in him.
So as tempting as the pitch is, it's hard to picture the Jags trading No. 16 anytime soon
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