OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s playful, charismatic humor paused to ask a question Tuesday.
Has Jackson heard the talk the NFL will update him this season?
Last week, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that people across the league told him, “It may be the year everyone finds out about Lamar Jackson.”
“We’re going to see,” Jackson said. “But I doubt it. I doubt it very much.”
In 2019, Jackson became the youngest quarterback to win the NFL MVP, leading the league in touchdown steps (36) and setting a record for more rushing yards per quarterback (1,206). Jackson’s numbers dropped last season, but he still ranked seventh in Total QBR (73.5) and finished ninth in the league in the race (1,005).
This year, Jackson missed the first 10 days of training camp after testing positive for COVID-19. But coaches and teammates have been excited about the joke Jackson has been this summer.
“Lamar is throwing the rock like he doesn’t have those ten days off because of COVID,” Mark Andrews said. “He’s more focused than ever.”
Jackson’s biggest challenge is to build chemistry with his goals. On Tuesday, only half of the twelve receivers on Baltimore’s list adapted to practice.
Marquise Brown (hamstring), Sammy Watkins (undisclosed), Rashod Bateman (groin), Miles Boykin (hamstring), James Proche (back) and Deon Cain (undisclosed) are out injured with injuries. Four of the six wide receivers taking Jackson’s passes were unwritten.
But Jackson believes the passing game will kick off before the start of the Sept. 13 season against the Las Vegas Raiders because he worked with many of the receivers in low-season training in Florida and Arizona.
“When they come back, we’ll be hitting right where we started,” Jackson said. “We don’t care about that because they’ve been working hard and we’ve been working hard too.”