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We're seeing the best version of Lamar of his career. He's cooler now than he was in his MVP season

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What do most people say about Lamar Jackson? Well, the stories about how all he can do is run is no longer relevant...

Oh. Logan Wilson has already made his position clear by tweeting, "We all know he's great on the pass." But the remarks about Lamar's skills on the takeaway prove that it was easy to overlook how good he is on the pass this year during the 2021 season.

This season, Jackson is executing 67.5 percent of his passes, gaining 8.7 yards per attempt, averaging 9.9 yards passing depth and throwing exactly on target (making available for catches) 80 percent of his passes, all of which are career bests for him. In other words, Lamar has never before completed passes so accurately and so far away. And all of this comes without a significant increase in time per throw (3.12 seconds, career average of 3.11 seconds), percentage of pressures allowed (19.1%, career average of 19.0%) or sack rate (7.6%, career average of 6.9%).

In a nutshell, that shouldn't be the case. Passers usually can't throw passes more accurately and further without getting pressured or hit by a sack more often. Lamar has decided that such conventions don't apply to him.

If you put Lamar's accomplishments in context, they become even more staggering. Few teams can match Baltimore in terms of player injuries. Jackson is no longer helped by running backs J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards or Justice Hill, starting tight end Ronnie Staley is out for the rest of the season, and only starting offensive guard Ben Cleveland will return by Week 10.

Right now, Lamar is playing behind the worst offensive line of his career. The early-back group isn't impressive either, so Jackson is by a wide margin the most dangerous player on the carry. At the same time, Lamar is allowed just 3.8 yards per carry before first contact with a defender, the worst performance since Jackson's debut season in the league. That doesn't stop him from posting great numbers, however, as Lamar is gaining 2.5 yards after contact (it was 1.9 yards in the 2019 season). In the 2021 season, Jackson has already walked away from 10 grabs, though he had walked away from 14 total tackles in the previous three seasons.

Lamar is dragging the Ravens on his back. And he does it with the kind of success that elevates him to a truly unique player. That's why Lamar-2021 is the best version of Jackson we've seen.

Baltimore expected Jackson to be able to take that step forward in his development in 2020. When asked what else Lamar can add after winning MVP for the 2019 season, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh pointed to the success of deep passes, "Cornerbacks will play one-on-one as well as safeties. We have to punish them for that with long passes. If we can make teams regret shifting their priorities to stopping the takeaway...That's the next step in the evolution of our offense. I'm convinced Lamar can take that step forward."

In 2020, Lamar failed to add. He started throwing more deep, but only completed 34.6 percent of his passes for 20+ yards and gained 11.2 yards per attempt. The 2021 season saw an increase in all of his long-assist metrics - completion percentage (40%), yards per attempt (14.1), and PFF explosive throws (34.4% of assists, up from 25% last year).

 

Much of Jackson's success has to do with the trust between him and receiver Marquis Brown. Brown periodically frustrates Jackson and Baltimore fans with dropped balls in easy situations, but he and Lamar have definitely struck the right balance. Jackson's long-range shots now feel confident, and he's not shy about deceiving defenders with his gaze and turning his eyes to the receiver only at the last moment. In a sense, Brown's drops even support the notion that Jackson has improved in that area.

Right now, Lamar is the NFL leader in total assists (10.8) and yards per attempt (8.5).

Jackson also ranks first in the league in mid-range passes to the middle of the field. And after all, this is one of the most difficult areas to pass, where many variables are encountered, such as linebackers dropping back to cover or safeties hunting for the ball.


There's a whole list of players who seriously suffer from a lack of throwing skill in the middle of the field, whether it's Ben Roethlisberger, Jalen Hurts, Baker Mayfield or Kirk Cousins. But Lamar has been good at this component since college. Part of the reason is that opposing linebackers see Jackson as a dangerous threat at the line of scrimmage, so they get closer to the line of scrimmage, lose their opponents in coverage and run them behind the back.

Jackson's progress on long passes is surprising in that Baltimore hasn't changed anything for it. The offensive line isn't defending Jackson any better this year, the Ravens haven't signed any new assistants for their quarterback (rookie receiver Rashod Bateman doesn't count - he just joined the lineup). The coaching staff simply decided to refocus the offense a bit more on mid-range and long-range passing, and Lamar is doing a brilliant job. The main beneficiary of such a change has been tight end Mark Andrews, who has both great catching range and the necessary speed.

Lamar's progress on long passes, as Harbaugh predicted, puts defenders in a no-win situation. While the safeties load the zone near the line of scrimmage, the Ravens rely on deep passes and execute them at a decent level. Lighten up the line of scrimmage and you immediately get in the teeth from the takeout game or open up opportunities for mid-range passes. So every week begins for Baltimore's new opponents scratching their heads with the question, "How do we stop this?"

There's a theory that Baltimore's opponents don't have much to worry about because the situation will straighten itself out. In Week 7's game against the Bengals, Baltimore got a serious slap shot, and Lamar was able to complete less than half (48.3%) of his passes and was hit by a sack five times.

Jackson definitely has a lot to praise for at the end of the first half of the season. If the Ravens quarterback can prove that this kind of play wasn't a fluke, then we'll really get an answer to the question of whether Lamar can be a franchise quarterback for a long time to come.

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