Jackson, Ravens were a perfect match
Most NFL teams would have wasted this mobile and athletic signal-caller’s dynamic skills
WASHINGTON — Lamar Jackson, sublime as a singular talent, wouldn’t be this mesmerizing without the Baltimore Ravens. As you marvel over his individual exploits, save room to appreciate how well the Ravens have activated Jackson, creating the ideal system and environment to help him translate his superpowers from college to the NFL.
The petty take-away from Jackson’s stunning pro ascension would be to mock the idiotic franchises that underestimated a rare talent because of quarterback prejudice, the unoriginal group thinkers who considered him just another athlete and not a franchise player at the sport’s most critical position. It’s more important to focus on the fact that Baltimore believed in him, understood what it meant to have him and executed a flawless plan to unlock his potential faster than any other team could have.
In that sense, it wasn’t a setback or even an insult that Jackson fell to the final pick of the first round, even as a former Heisman Trophy winner with franchise-changing talent. It was a blessing that Cleveland or Denver or the New York Jets didn’t draft him high and ruin him. Just a handful of teams possess the skills required to get the best out of Jackson: creativity and willingness to adjust to uncommon personnel. That is sad and says lot about the NFL’s ills.
The Ravens’ approach, seemingly dramatic and definitely worthwhile, soon may become known as the new model for building around a quarterback. The game is changing, and while the prototypical pocket passer is far from extinct, there are signs that we are in the era of the dual-threat quarterback.
Or maybe it is better to describe the current time this way: the era of QB diversification. Teams always will crave the pocket passer because they have a better grasp of how to keep him healthy. But they cannot ignore the rise and success of the more mobile and athletic signal-caller. They cannot ignore that many quarterbacks shorter than 6-4 are starting to dominate the game, either. And they cannot ignore the influence of college concepts and ingenuity on the pro game.
Put it all together, and the term “pro-style quarterback” should be expunged from the vocabulary of all talent evaluators.
Change the thinking and perhaps the Ravens won’t be praised as revolutionary for doing the sensible thing. In Jackson’s first full season as a starter, they are tied for the league’s best record at 10-2. They have outscored their opponents by a league-best 187 points. They average a league-best 207.8 rushing yards, which is almost 60 more per game than the No. 2 team, San Francisco. And their playing style has energized a defence that has improved gradually and now ranks in the top 10.
Since turning to Jackson in the middle of last season, the Ravens have gone from a so-so team with an aging prototypical quarterback to the most impressive team in the league. Jackson is the favourite to win the league MVP and John Harbaugh is the favourite to win coach of the year, while Eric DeCosta should be on a very short list for executive of the year. And most importantly, they might win the Super Bowl.
Last season, the coaching staff changed the offence on the fly after promoting Jackson and ended up rallying to make the playoffs. Harbaugh since has enabled offensive coordinator Greg Roman to work his magic and build a complex and imaginative runbased system around Jackson. The staff, led by quarterbacks coach James Urban, also has helped Jackson improve tremendously as a passer; he is completing 66.5 per cent of his throws this season and has 25 touchdown passes and just five interceptions. The Ravens have made the perfect acquisitions to fit their system, including signing Mark Ingram for a power-running element and drafting speedy receiver Marquise Brown for a deep threat.
In the NFL, you’re either successfully developing a quarterback or desperate to figure out how. Right now, the Ravens are showing the way. But there are several other teams doing impressive work.
A year ago, the story was the job Kansas City did to help Patrick Mahomes reach MVP status on a timeline almost identical to Jackson’s rise. Look at what Houston is doing with Deshaun Watson, what Seattle has done over eight seasons with Russell Wilson. Look at what Buffalo is figuring out about Josh Allen, the way San Francisco is helping Jimmy Garoppolo manage games. Remember what Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay did with Jared Goff before his 2019 regression.
It remains as difficult as ever to groom a long-term franchise quarterback. But during the current decade, teams have made significant progress deciphering how to help more quarterbacks succeed early in their careers. In fact, these triumphs in generating fast starts have complicated long-term evaluations because Mitchell Trubisky can appear a saviour one season, only to turn into a pumpkin once the league adjusts to his novelty. It can be hard to distinguish whether you have a Mahomes, a Goff or a Carson Wentz.
What’s the trick to sustained success? Barring injuries, it comes down to the strength of franchise and its commitment to tailoring all it does to complement the quarterback’s unique traits. It used to be that franchises were looking to draft a QB saviour. The best ones, however, are looking to develop a saviour.
Now, the franchises doing it correctly show you should go all-in as soon as possible. Put all the franchise’s resources into the process. Go big or go home, realizing that it could all explode on you. Scared money don’t make money.
It was a blessing that Cleveland or Denver or the New York Jets didn’t draft him high and ruin him.”
Jerry Brewer