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Christian Kirk, Trevor Lawrence building “muscle memory” in second season together

When the Jaguars signed wide receiver Christian Kirk to a four-year, $72 million contract as a free agent in the 2022 offseason, there were plenty of people who thought they had overpaid for his services.

There were fewer people standing on that hill after Kirk posted 84 catches for 1,108 yards and eight touchdowns to help the Jags win the AFC South. There were even fewer after Kirk’s two touchdown catches in the postseason and the general consensus this year is that the Jags have one of the top receiving corps in the entire league with Kirk, Zay Jones, Calvin Ridley, and tight end Evan Engram.

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence is the guy responsible for getting the ball to those guys and Kirk said he is continuing to work on developing the kind of chemistry with Lawrence that will lead to even bigger moments in the future.

“It becomes muscle memory,” Kirk said, via Tyler Dunne of Go Long. “In the fourth quarter — you were down 27, you’re making a comeback — you call a corner route in the back of the end zone and it’s a play we’ve run 1,000 times and we’ve worked time after time after time and I know once I break the ball’s going to be at the front pylon, it’s trusting one another. It becomes muscle memory. When you get in those adverse moments where you’re tired, it’s hot, it’s been a long game, you fall back on your training.”

The Jaguars took a tremendous leap in 2022 and much of it can be attributed to replacing the overmatched Urban Meyer with an experienced NFL head coach in Doug Pederson. The next leap to championship contender will be more difficult, but the work that Kirk, Lawrence and the rest of the team do this summer will be essential to making it happen.