JACKSONVILLE – Trevor Lawrence couldn't have been clearer.

The Jaguars' quarterback early this week spoke of the immediate past – and the future. And if that immediate past was disappointing, he said to make no mistake about the future:

His focus is on improving. And that won't stop being his focus.

"I'm not going anywhere," Lawrence said in the wake of his third NFL season, a season that ended this past Sunday with the Jaguars eliminated from the postseason.

"I'm going to keep coming back."

Lawrence, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, said he knows that means improving – with Head Coach Doug Pederson on Monday calling reducing turnovers the "No. 1" priority for Lawrence entering the 2024 offseason.

"It's the biggest thing he has to focus on moving forward," Pederson said. "We just can't have this amount of turnovers. How we turn the ball over, where we turn the ball over, it doesn't matter. We have to protect the football, that's the No. 1 thing.

"For the quarterback, the person that touches the ball every snap, we have to make sure the emphasis is taking care of the ball."

Lawrence in 2023 threw 14 interceptions with seven lost fumbles. He has 60 career turnovers in three seasons, with the Jaguars' 30 turnovers this season the fifth-most in the NFL.

"When you don't turn the ball over, you win more games," Lawrence said. "It's definitely an emphasis. There's a lot that goes into that. I have to own my part and I have to take better care of the ball. That's going to give us a better chance to win a lot of these games.

"I understand that and I own that. There are other things I need to do better, too. It's not just turnovers. In general, I need to be more consistent. I think as a team and as an offense, we need to be more consistent in every aspect."

Lawrence in 2023 left four games with injuries and played the following week three times. He sustained a concussion and knee, ankle and shoulder injuries – and missed only one game. That was in Week 17, when a sprained AC joint kept him out of a victory over the Carolina Panthers.

Lawrence said Monday he doesn't expect to need offseason surgery.

"I just need a little bit of time to let the body do its thing and heal up," he said.

Lawrence, after throwing eight touchdown passes with 17 interceptions as a rookie, threw 25 touchdowns with eight interceptions in 2022. He was markedly improved in the last nine games that season, throwing 15 touchdowns with two interceptions as the Jaguars went 7-2 to clinch their first AFC South title in five seasons.

Lawrence this season threw 21 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. He threw seven touchdowns with seven interceptions in his last five starts while playing through a high-ankle sprain and a shoulder injury, also sustaining a concussion during that span.

"Who knows what the narrative is going to be? I'm sure not good, but I don't really care," he said. "It's not really about that for me. It doesn't stunt my growth. I think that's up to me how much better I get every year, not what the narrative is. I know it's going to be a long offseason for us and what people want to say about us, but it doesn't really matter. I think it's going to put a chip back on our shoulder, and we know we have to get better and we have a lot of things to work on.

"Individually, that starts with me. I'm excited, I think I took a lot of steps this year. People can say what they want, but I do feel like there were some areas of my game I wanted to improve in, and I think I did. Now, there's some more areas I need to get better on, and I will moving forward.

"It's just going back to work, getting better at what I need to get better at, controlling what I can control, trying to just also bring everybody with me, too."

NOTABLE

• Pederson on Monday also addressed the Jaguars’ offensive line, a group that dealt with frequent lineup changes on the left side of the line in 2023. Walker Little started seven games at left tackle and four at left guard. Cam Robinson started nine games at left tackle. Ezra Cleveland started four games at left guard and one at left tackle. Tyler Shatley started six games at left guard and Ben Bartch started three games at left guard. The Jaguars finished 24^th in the NFL in rushing with 96.8 yards per game and tied for 15^th with 41 sacks allowed. "I just think we need to stay healthy," Pederson said. "Again, when guys are playing together for three games, it's not long enough because then we're making another switch. He gets hurt, then they're playing together for three or four more games, then Cam is out for four games with an injury or something. The consistency and the continuity, that's what really drives the offensive line."