Ever since Lamar Jackson was drafted 32nd overall to the Baltimore Ravens in the 2018 NFL draft there was always one thing that most analysts agreed about him, his style would be unsustainable at the NFL level. As he is only in his second season in the league it is tough to say whether or not they will be correct concerning his sustainability, however, one undisputed fact is that he has been better so far than any analyst projected for him to be.
With Jackson coming out of Louisville after his Junior season and winning the Heisman trophy after his Sophomore season thanks to his athleticism, he drew comparisons to other great college running quarterbacks, including: Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III, and Michael Vick.
During his rookie campaign Jackson was most likely not going to see the field as a starter unless something bad happened to then starter Joe Flacco. Jackson caught the break that he needed when Flacco went down with an injury November 4th, 2018 and the team sat at 4-5, looking like the playoffs would not be met for yet another season.
Then as they say the rest is history, Jackson took over and finished the regular season with a 6-1 record to lead the team to a 10-6 record and a playoff berth. Jackson’s play style helped completely reinvent the modern offense and the offense that they had known for so long with the power-arm Joe Flacco.
In all of Jackson’s starts in his rookie year he only surpassed 200 passing yards once, but the offense was producing better than it ever had up to that point in the season. In the last 9 regular season games the offense was averaging more yards than they were while Flacco was under center, this was all thanks to the newly revamped run game led by one of the best playmakers at the quarterback position.
All things were looking up for the Ravens by the end of the season, however, many analysts were not convinced. Jackson had the advantage of only seeing the teams he played against in the regular season, surely, he would be figured out if he were to play a team twice during the same season. Jackson would have that chance to prove everyone wrong in the wildcard round of the playoffs where they would go up against a team, they had just beaten two weeks earlier in the Los Angeles Chargers.
Well, Lamar Jackson critics were able to have a field day after his performance in the wildcard game. He had his worst game to record with 194 passing yards on 14-29 passing, with 54 rushing yards, two touchdowns, and two turnovers. This was clearly all the proof needed that a quarterback who could rush the ball and was inconsistent through the air was figured out and would not succeed—Lamar Jackson was finally figured out.
That was the narrative that everyone was pushing throughout the offseason, if Jackson could not improve his passing game than he would never truly be able to prosper in the pros. A purely running quarterback could only benefit so long before a lack of passing skills caught up to him. It caught up to Vick, it caught up to Griffin, it caught up to Newton, forcing all of them to change their game if they wanted to maintain success in the league and it looked as if it may have caught up to Jackson before everyone could truly see what this young man was about.
Jackson always had the talent, but talent can only take you so far when you get to the highest level of your profession, now he needed to prove that he had the passion and the work ethic to become great. This was something that was not foreign to people who he had played with and had grown up with, they knew all he wanted was a fair shot to lead a team and that also meant to be the best on the team.
A month after the devastating loss to the Chargers in the playoffs, Jackson was back on the field, working to improve one specific area of his game to become great, passing.
His personal quarterback coach, Joshua Harris, likes to say that the best way to inspire Jackson is to tell him he can’t do something.
This is exactly what every single analyst in the league was doing during Jackson’s pro career, they were saying that he can’t throw, and he never will be able too. This was not the first time during his football career that he was told that he can’t do something, but it felt like there was a little more determination to prove everyone wrong since it was the pros.
The criticism that Jackson received only motivated him as it does to the best athletes, he made it a personal mission to become a better passer while keeping his natural ability of remaining elusive. During the offseason, Jackson worked four days a week on his throwing motion, establishing a wider base and keeping his elbow tucked in as he threw. This was all in hopes of improving on his 58.2 completion %, one that would have been the second-best percentage out of all the rookie quarterbacks.
Due to him only being a one-dimensional player, his odds at winning the MVP were very low at only 100/1, tying him with the number one pick from the current season in Kyler Murray. Not only were Jackson’s odds at MVP low, but almost everyone counted the Ravens out from making the playoffs, with many either choosing the Browns or the Steelers as the division winners and the other as the wildcard winner.
So far this season Jackson has proved all the critics wrong, few people saw improvement from last season, mainly in his passing game, and even fewer saw him having the season that he is currently having this early in his career.
Jackson started it all off with his incredible performance against Miami in the first week of the season, Jackson was 17-20 with 324 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 6 rushing yards. Jackson posted a perfect quarterback rating (158.3) that game. The next couple of weeks were up and down through the air for Jackson, but it was evident that the improvement was there from the previous season.
Jackson also improved on one other glaring flaw in his game from last season, holding on to the ball. Last season Jackson was one of the league leaders in fumbles (12) and fumbles lost (4). This season so far Jackson has fumbled 6 times and only lost the fumble 1 time. He is also in the top half of the league in completion percentage, his biggest weakness from last season, with 66.5%. Jackson also has 2,532 passing yards this year and he leads the league in passing touchdowns and touchdown %.
Of course, he is still one of the best players on the ground, but his improvement in the air is the main reason why he is an MVP candidate and the Ravens are tied for the best record in the NFL. Yes, the Ravens offense is built on the run, but if Jackson was not as big of a threat as he is through the air then the offensive concept would not work.
Since Jackson has vastly improved his passing game this season his game now compliment the rest of the offensive scheme to a tee. On top of the passing game, Jackson has 977 yards on the ground this season and seven touchdowns, bringing his league leading number to 32 total touchdowns. On top of that Jackson has 3,500 total yards, only two players have more total yards than him Jameis Winston (3,879), and Dak Prescott (4,012).
All of these numbers have led a player once considered a long term project into becoming the MVP frontrunner at -300 (1/3) and leading the top seeded Ravens in the AFC to potential home field advantage come playoff time.
If there is any lesson that comes from watching a player like Jackson it is to never discount a player after one bad outing because you don’t know what his work ethic and what is motivation is that will help him become great.