Jacksonville Jaguars star quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been ruled out for Week 17 against the Carolina Panthers due to a shoulder injury. This will be Lawrence's first missed start of his NFL career. C.J. Beathard will be under center in Lawrence's place.

Lawrence has been really banged up of late. The Jaguars quarterback suffered a concussion in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 15. While Lawrence played against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 16, the shoulder injury happened in that game. Jacksonville suffered an ugly 30-12 defeat, with Lawrence laboring and committing three turnovers. Beathard replaced him late in the game when it was a blowout.

There was some hope Lawrence would be ready for Week 17, but that turned out to be misplaced.

Trevor Lawrence's season

Jaguars Steelers, terrible towel, Trevor Lawrence

What was shaping up to be an incredible season for Trevor Lawrence is turning into a nightmare. Not only is the Jaguars quarterback injured, but the team has lost four games in a row to go from 8-3 to 8-7.

Lawrence has completed 65.5% of his passes for 3,736 yards and 19 touchdowns, but he has also thrown 12 interceptions and fumbled 12 times, with seven of those fumbles turning into turnovers. The turnovers have been a major problem during this losing streak, and Lawrence's completion percentage was in the 50s in each of the last three games.

Jaguars need C.J. Beathard to step up vs. Panthers

The Jaguars looked to be well on their way to an easy AFC South crown when they got off to that 8-3 start. But now they're in a three-way tie atop the division, with the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans also 8-7. Jacksonville does hold the tiebreaker over both teams.

While the Panthers are just 2-13 this season, they beat the Atlanta Falcons two weeks ago and nearly pulled off a huge comeback against the Green Bay Packers last week. That game featured Bryce Young's best performance of his young career. If Young gets cooking again, the Jaguars will need C.J. Beathard to step up to the plate.

Beathard hasn't made an NFL start since 2020 with the San Francisco 49ers. This will be the 13th start of his NFL career. In three years as Lawrence's backup, Beathard has completed 32-of-42 passes for 239 yards with one touchdown and one interception in 12 appearances.