Jags’ Lawrence on track to return after strong week of practice

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is on track to make his return to the lineup Sunday against Houston after missing the past two games with a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder.

Lawrence has had a good week of practice and will have no limitations in his first game since Nov. 3 if he plays, Jacksonville coach Doug Pederson said Friday.

“Nothing held back,” Pederson said. “… You don’t want your quarterback to get hit anyway, but yeah, you just got to be conscious of moving around or too many design runs or anything like that. But if he’s cleared to play, we go play and can’t worry about getting hit or taking a shot or anything like that.”

Lawrence was injured in the first half of the Jaguars’ game at Philadelphia on Nov. 3 but didn’t miss a snap and almost led the Jaguars to a come-from-behind victory until he threw an end zone interception with 1:38 remaining. He missed the Jaguars’ next two games.

Behind backup quarterback Mac Jones, the Jaguars managed just a combined 313 yards and 13 points in losses to Minnesota and Detroit.

Lawrence, who has completed 61.3% of his passes for 2,004 yards and 11 touchdowns with six interceptions, returned to practice Monday for the first time since Nov. 8. He said Wednesday that his shoulder feels the best it has since the injury and that he wanted to play against the Texans, but also did not rule out having surgery.

“I think [the sprained joint] has been a pretty difficult thing to gauge, honestly, of what’s the best path forward,” Lawrence said Wednesday. “[Surgery is] definitely something that I’m considering and not off the table at all. It’s something that we’re going to have to just [approach] truly day by day, week by week.

“Hopefully, I’m able to get back out there this week or as soon as possible and then it’s going to be just every week kind of evaluating it, seeing where it’s at. Obviously, up until this point I’ve been doing everything I can to avoid that and want to be back out there with my guys and finish the season. So that’s my goal.”