After overtaking San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy for the best odds to win NFL MVP, there has been one common rebuttal to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s claim to the award: his lack of eye-popping statistics.
Jackson’s 3,357 passing yards and 19 passing touchdowns are not at the top of the NFL. There are 13 quarterbacks with more passing touchdowns than Jackson this season and 14 quarterbacks with more passing yards. Jackson’s passing attempts are also near the bottom of the league.
Jackson’s 786 rushing yards (most among quarterbacks) and five touchdowns on the ground bring his total yards to 4,143 and 24 touchdowns, but that still leaves him behind several other quarterbacks. So why does Jackson currently have the highest odds to bring home the prestigious MVP award for the second time in his career?
The answer to that could be as simple as being the quarterback of the team with the best record in the league with multiple electrifying primetime performances in recent weeks. Still, as usual with Jackson, it is a bit more nuanced than that.
The 33rd Team’s Derrik Klassen wrote about why Jackson deserves the MVP this season.
“Watching Jackson play is a different story,” Klassen wrote. “You can feel his presence. Jackson is a singular force that makes the offense work; an offense that is missing its best and most tenured skill player in Mark Andrews. The passing game works because Jackson wills it to work with his pocket presence and unique vision. The run game works because of the gravity Jackson commands.”
Klassen pointed out how Jackson ranks 15th in EPA per dropback and ninth in QBR with two games remaining in the regular season.
“Yet, when you watch the Ravens offense, you can’t help but feel like Jackson is a singular force moving everything along,” Klassen wrote. “Jackson constantly gets the offense out of jams it has no business getting out of. He solves every single problem the offense as, big or small, because of his unique tools and the way he’s honed them.”
Following the win over the 49ers, Baltimore Head Coach John Harbaugh called it “an MVP performance” for his quarterback.
Ravens inside linebacker Roquan Smith backed Jackson’s MVP claim as well.
“I think if anybody watched the game, if anybody watched football this season and watched the Baltimore Ravens, they know for a fact Lamar Jackson is the MVP hands down,” Smith said. “If anyone that watches football and knows football and sees the type of impact he has on the game, not even like stat-wise, but just individually, like the plays that he makes quarter in and quarter out, play in and play out. Compare his film to anyone else in the league and then I would love to hear what anyone else has to say after that.”
Tell ‘em, Ro❗️ pic.twitter.com/lXV6GtbduQ
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 26, 2023
Not only is Jackson playing at an MVP level without his favorite target in Andrews, but he has also had to deal with a rotation at offensive tackle and season-ending injuries to running backs J.K. Dobbins and Keaton Mitchell.
Defenders are routinely left speechless and often on the ground by Jackson’s one-of-one abilities to evade pressure or juke in the open field.
Jackson converted a 3rd-and-16 against San Francisco with his legs, completely juking out All-Pro inside linebacker Fred Warner on the play to get the first down.
Lamar Jackson makes Fred Warner look like he’s got cement shoes in the open field. What an incredible player. pic.twitter.com/f5sUB1JZqa
— Steven Cheah (@StevenCheah) December 26, 2023
A week prior against the Jacksonville Jaguars, edge rusher Dawuane Smoot was left shaking his head and asking “how” after Jackson evaded a sack and completed a down-field pass to tight end Isaiah Likely.
#Jaguars DL Dawuane Smoot to Lamar Jackson after he avoids a sack and finds Isaiah Likely:
“HOWW?!?!?” 🤣🤣pic.twitter.com/9UeOT4VK6X
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 18, 2023
Jackson has the opportunity to put on another MVP-caliber performance against another of the AFC’s top teams next Sunday as Baltimore plays the Miami Dolphins for the No. 1 seed in the conference.
