Entering his eighth season, the narratives surrounding Lamar Jackson have finally started to change. Not only is the Baltimore Ravens quarterback the best rushing signal-caller of all time, but he's also put up some of the best passing stats ever.
The notion that Jackson is nothing more than a runner has been hogwash for years. The discussion is finally catching up.
"He is a historically good passer," coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday on ESPN's Kevin Clark's "This is Football" show. "And that's really quite a statement because of the narrative that's been surrounding him ever since the beginning. Lamar Jackson can throw the football. He can throw it every kind of way, he can make every kind of throw any kind [of] way you want. He's as good as any passer that there's ever been -- and I think now the numbers are proving that."
Yes, Jackson might have struggled early in his career, as many young passers do, but he had his extraordinary athletic ability to lean on. That dynamic led many to label him as nothing more than a running QB. As he's developed, the QB has shown he can sling the pigskin all over the park.
"So that's the thing I'm kind of a little bit proud of, but [I'm] also a little bit like, 'OK, here we go, what have we learned from that?'" Harbaugh added, via ESPN. "You can take any big picture -- from a society standpoint, from a football standpoint -- what did we learn from that? And what kinds of questions do we ask ourselves? But Lamar Jackson as a passer is historically great."
In 2024, Jackson led the NFL with an 8.8 yards per attempt average and a 119.6 passer rating (fourth-highest all-time -- 2011 Aaron Rodgers, 2020 Rodgers, 2004 Peyton Manning). He set career highs in passing yards (4,172), passing touchdowns (41 with just four interceptions), and offensive TDs (45) in 2024.
Jackson became the first player in NFL history with 40+ passing TDs and fewer than five INTs in a season.
The historic numbers don't end there: Jackson's four games with a perfect passer rating are the most ever in the NFL. His seven career games with more TD passes than incompletions are the most in NFL history.
For far too long, the quarterback's dynamic ability as a runner has overshadowed the fact that he has also developed into a legitimate threat with his arm. The combination of the two electric skill sets will keep him on an MVP pace for years to come.
Harbaugh credited Jackson's work ethic for developing into a proficient and dynamic passer.
"I'd say the work that you do -- if you're going to be good at anything, great at anything, you've got to work at it all the time," Harbaugh said. "I read a story just recently about a classical piano player, he's 95 years old, and he's working six to eight hours a day on playing the piano, and they ask him, 'Why do you still work six to eight hours on the piano?' And his comment was, 'I feel like I'm just starting to make some progress.'
"So, that daily, everyday working at your craft kind of thing, I think, is what Lamar does."
