Head Coach John Harbaugh's unwavering faith in Lamar Jackson has never been stronger, and he made that clear on the first day of training camp.
Harbaugh envisions Jackson becoming the greatest quarterback in NFL history. The 27-year-old franchise quarterback is already the youngest player to win two MVP awards, but the next step is clear: Super Bowls.
Jackson missed the opening day of training camp due to illness, but Harbaugh had his quarterback's back in a big way.
"The vision that we have together is that Lamar Jackson is going to become and be known and be recognized as the greatest quarterback ever to play in the history of the National Football League," Harbaugh said. "That's the vision. It's going to happen by Lamar, his work ethic and his brilliant talent, by all of us pouring into that effort together as a team, and by the grace of God and God's good will. That's how it's going to happen. And I believe it like we've already seen it."
Jackson has not reached the Super Bowl yet, leaving him open to criticism that Harbaugh believes is unfair. In 2023, Jackson had career bests in completion percentage (67.2) and passing yards (3,678) in his first season with Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken. There are many reasons to believe Jackson has not reached his ceiling considering that he is still three years shy of his 30th birthday.
Great quarterbacks such as Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and John Elway were older than Jackson before winning their first Super Bowl. But after the Ravens' 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game, Jackson has not silenced his critics, and Harbaugh hears the skeptics.
"To be honest with you, I read the stuff," Harbaugh said. "I see these guys say what they say on these shows.
"That's OK, that's part of the deal. Lamar for whatever reason – he gets a lot of great things said about Lamar. But there's stuff that's said that you've got to just scratch your head about, kind of wonder: 'What's that person even thinking?'"
The doubting of Jackson's ability to lead the Ravens to the Lombardi Trophy gives players and coaches more fuel for the 2024 season.
"We take it personally," Harbaugh said. "All his life, Lamar Jackson has been a guy who's been answering those same questions – I'm talking about since he was a kid. Junior high, high school, college, the draft, the success he's had in the National Football League, and it still comes up. He's still growing. He's going to get better and better, no doubt. But what does he have to do to prove himself to some people?
"We've always had a vision for Lamar Jackson. It started with Lamar's vision and his mom's vision when he said he was going to be quarterback. He was going to be a quarterback in college, he's going to be a quarterback in the National Football League. We bought into that. We embraced it. We built an offense for him in 2019. We're putting another offense for it in 2023-24, going forward, the next iteration of our offense."
