Entered The League With Built in Haters
Lamar Jackson came into the league with built in “haters” and with a built in chip. After a successful and exciting career at Louisville which saw Lamar become the youngest heisman trophy winner ever. He was just 19 years old. Still… there are doubters. Still there were pro scouts, Twitter trolls and even front office members that believed Lamar Jackson was suited better elsewhere. Even in draft interviews and at combine media days Lamar was asked about switching positions. Lamar would answer with “I’m a Quarterback.” Once Lamar took the field for the Baltimore Ravens after being selected 32nd in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, he almost instantly proved the doubters wrong. However some of them remain and the comments about his abilities still lingered.
Rookie Season Success
Lamar in his rookie season started seven games for the Baltimore Ravens. In those games Lamar put up 1200 passing yards with six touchdowns, as well as 695 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. During that stretch Lamar led the Ravens to a playoff berth, finishing the season on a 6-1 run. Still the doubters claimed that he was more fit to be a wide receiver or a running back, and his first playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers only supported their argument. He was just 14 for 29 with 194 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the 23-17 wild card loss.
MVP Season still has doubters
In the following season, Lamar came out on fire with five touchdowns in a week one win over the Miami Dolphins, to kick off what ended up being an MVP campaign for the 22 year old QB. 22, that made Lamar the youngest quarterback in NFL history to win the MVP trophy. In this MVP season Lamar finished with 36 passing touchdowns which led the league, 3,127 yards and also set the record for most rushing yards as a quarterback with 1,206, surpassing Mike Vick. He did all this while leading the Ravens to a one seed with a record of 14-2. After a shocking divisional round loss to the Tennessee Titans, the doubters came out of hiding and have since hitched their wagon on lack of playoff success to try and prove why Lamar is not built to win games as a quarterback in the NFL.
Facts are, Lamar is a top 10 guy in this league
Stats and eye test prove Lamar is one of the best, and most impactful QBs in the league today. His overall record as a starter of 37-12, which is a winning percentage of .755. That is the third best in the super bowl era. So far in the young MVPs’ career, Lamar has totaled just shy of 10k passing yards. He also has 84 passing touchdowns and 31 interceptions. Not to mention 3,673 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns. Now up for a contract extension Lamar is sure to get 40 million a year minimum. This, in a climate where the QB contracts are continuously rising. The doubters will always be there, but Lamar will continue to shine and prove them wrong and as he said “they hated Jesus… so I’m not worried about it.”
Only these starting QBs have had a winning percentage of .700 or better in the Super Bowl era 🤯
– Patrick Mahomes
– Tom Brady
– Lamar Jackson
– Roger Staubach
– Joe Montana
– Peyton Manning
– Jimmy Garoppolo pic.twitter.com/seTFTvWfem— NFL on ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsNFL) July 21, 2022
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