When Thursday's Hall of Fame Game kicks off between the Ravens and Bears, don't hold your breath for much veteran presence.
While starters are typically yanked minutes into the early August affair, football fans will get their first look at one of the game's more intriguing rookies: Baltimore's first-round passer Lamar Jackson.
"I'm a quarterback. That's the first thing I want to show off," Jackson said, per ESPN's Jamison Hensley. "Just show the growth, from college to my new chapter of life."
Jackson is written about daily on NFL.com for a couple of reasons: (1) He's left beat reporters and national media impressed by his rare, on-field athleticism in camp, and (2) the Ravens have vowed to find a way to get him snaps alongside veteran signal-caller Joe Flacco.
Harbaugh has reiterated this desire all month, most recently telling Peter King: "Sometimes Lamar will be the quarterback. Sometimes we'll have two quarterbacks. Sometimes Joe will be doing something else. Sometimes Lamar will be doing something else. We'll try to be creative. That's really about all I can tell you: We're going to try to be creative with them."
For all the praise, Jackson has also shown streaks of inconsistency in camp, with NFL Network's Mike Garafolo noting last week that the rookie produced a practice where he tossed a pick and underthrew a receiver on a wheel route, only to "drop a beautiful ball 40 yards up the sideline into the receiver's hands."
Understandably, Harbaugh is eager to see what Jackson pulls off against real-live competition.
"You have to run the show, and to see him run the show with confidence and get things right would be the main thing for him," Harbaugh said. "After that, play football and let's see what happens."
The Hall of Fame tussle kicks off Thursday night at 8 p.m ET on NBC.
