The NFL's consensus choice for Most Valuable Player has officially assumed the throne.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was named the 2019 NFL MVP on Saturday at NFL Honors in downtown Miami. Jackson earned all 50 first-place votes, making him only the second unaimous MVP in NFL history (Tom Brady, 2010).
Jackson was a source of pure spectating delight in 2019, shredding opposing defenses while leading the league in touchdowns with 36 passing scores and seven trips to the end zone on the ground. Jackson threw for 3,127 yards and posted a 113.3 passer rating, with the latter mark exceeding the average rating of an MVP quarterback (107.8) en route to the AFC's top seed.
That's not all, of course. Jackson rushed for 1,206 yards, breaking Michael Vick's single-season record for a quarterback in the process and obliterating the average mark for an MVP quarterback (131). He more than tripled the average mark for rushing touchdowns with his seven scores.
Jackson's league-leading marks in passing touchdowns and quarterback rushing yards made him just the second quarterback to do so in NFL history, joining Hall of Famer Steve Young, who did so in 1994 with nearly 1,000 less rushing yards. Jackson's 1,206 yards also landed him at sixth place in the entire NFL in rushing yards.
Jackson became the youngest quarterback to ever win MVP at 22 years, 358 days old (on Dec. 31, 2019) while leading the NFL's No. 1 scoring offense (33.2 points per game). With Jackson at the controls, Baltimore finished first or second in five key offensive categories: points per game, total yards per game, rushing yards per game, big plays per game and red-zone percentage. Jackson also posted the second-highest passing touchdown percentage (9.0) in the Super Bowl era (minimum 350 attempts).
Jackson's season could only get better if his Ravens were able to reach the Super Bowl. Baltimore's 14-2 finish didn't carry over into the postseason, as the Ravens were eliminated by the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Divisional Round.
His MVP makes him the first Ravens player to win the award.
