It’s the 12 months 2022, and people in and across the NFL are nonetheless spouting off horrible takes about Lamar Jackson.
The Athletic’s Mike Sando lately printed his annual QB tiers checklist, by which all quarterbacks are ranked into teams (often 5) based mostly on rankings from NFL executives and personnel. Jackson, the Ravens’ star quarterback and the 2019 MVP, was ranked in tier 2 – described as having the ability to “carry his group generally however not as persistently” and “can deal with pure passing conditions in doses and/or possesses different dimensions which are particular sufficient to raise him,” however “has a gap or two in his recreation.”
Maybe considerably of a good analysis of Jackson – however one nameless defensive coordinator had an aggressively harsh analysis of his play.
“If he has to go to win the sport, they ain’t successful the sport,” the coordinator stated. “He’s so distinctive as an athlete and he’s actually a great soccer participant, however I don’t (care) if he wins the league MVP 12 occasions, I don’t suppose he’ll ever be a 1 as a quarterback. He’ll be a 1 as a soccer participant, however not as a quarterback.”
Sure, the NFL remains to be recycling the identical outdated takes concerning the dynamic quarterback that they'd after his rookie season, when he had almost as many rush makes an attempt as go makes an attempt and everybody unfairly labeled him as a working again. In his second season, he solely led the league in passing touchdowns, averaged the next yards per try than Justin Herbert did in his second season, and accomplished over 66 % of his passes.
Since his rookie 12 months, Jackson has thrown for 8,766 yards, 78 passing touchdowns, and 28 interceptions in 42 video games, a few of which have been suffering from accidents (each to himself and the gamers round him). He has additionally rushed for two,978 yards and 16 dashing touchdowns, however he has greater than confirmed himself as a passer – and nonetheless has loads of room to enhance at solely 25 years outdated.
Playoff success has been Jackson’s bugaboo thus far within the league – he's 1-3 in 4 postseason video games, with solely three passing touchdowns and 5 interceptions – however he has made the postseason in all three of his fully-healthy seasons. However a number of “conventional” quarterbacks within the historical past of the NFL have struggled within the playoffs early of their profession; Peyton Manning misplaced his first three playoff video games, throwing only one landing.
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Jackson continues to be punished for his distinctive ability set, held to an unfair normal simply because he affords extra as a runner than arguably any quarterback in NFL historical past. If he wins the MVP 12 occasions, because the nameless coordinator instructed, he'll undoubtedly have completed it on the energy of his arm.
The feedback from The Athletic piece received the web fired up:
As Jackson heads to coaching camp for his fifth season (amid a probably tenuous contract scenario), one hopes this would be the 12 months that he lastly modifications some minds. However actually, what extra can he do?
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