Two-time MVP Lamar Jackson is on a mission to show the NFL that he can lead his Baltimore Ravens to a Super Bowl, despite playing in the same conference as one of the best quarterbacks of this generation: Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes.
The former Louisville Cardinals has an impressive list of individual accomplishments on his resume, and Jackson made huge strides as a passer last season, throwing for a career-high 4,172 yards, which ranked sixth in the league. He led the NFL in passer rating (119.6), QBR (77.3), touchdown percentage (8.6), yards per pass attempt (8.8), and air yards per pass attempt (10.15).
And the Ravens will need every single ounce of talent and skills from Jackson if they want to make its first trip to the Super Bowl since 2013, when they beat the San Francisco 49ers to win Super Bowl XLVII. The Athletic’s Austin Mock’s NFL Projection Model sees Baltimore as the best in the NFL. The model ran 100,000 simulations of the 2025 season and the Ravens came out on top the most.
Mahomes and Allen are warned by Lamar Jackson
Lamar Jackson understands that’s about the time for him to deliver for the city of Baltimore and the Ravens franchise. And the quarterback has translated that feeling into a sense of vengeance against any NFL team that has prevented him from reaching the championship game.
“It’s football, not everything going to go our way. Before it was like, ‘Oh, you can’t win a playoff game.’ Then, we won a playoff game, got to the AFC Championship two years ago, and we just fell short, like two games short this year. We’re going to bounce back. We’ll come back and I feel like we’re gonna have vengeance on our mind,” Jackson told the media.
The Ravens were eliminated by quarterback Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills 27-25 in the Divsional Round Playoff game last January. And Baltimore was eliminated by the Kansas City Chiefs during the AFC Championship game on January 2024. So Lamar Jackson was talking specifically about Allen and Mahomes.
Lamar is not on the top-5 of the NFL
Despite coming off one of the best seasons ever for a quarterback, Lamar Jackson is not on the top 5 of CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco’s annual ranking of the top 100 NFL players. The quarterback landed at No. 6 and was only the third highest-ranked QB on the list.
“Jackson continues to put up big numbers and he has improved in all facets of his game,” Prisco wrote. “He just has to be able to do more in the playoffs when it is time to do so. He is the best dual-threat quarterback in the game.”
After Jackson won his second MVP in 2023, he was No. 16 in last year’s rankings. Lamar was No. 35 the year prior. Patrick Mahomes took the top spot this year. Josh Allen (No. 4) was the other quarterback ranked ahead of Jackson. Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (No. 2), Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (No. 3), and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (No. 5) also came in above Jackson.
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