Lamar Jackson set up to succeed in first two NFL starts

The Lamar Jackson era has begun in Baltimore, and the Ravens have placed the rookie quarterback in an excellent position for early success.

Lamar Jackson was absolutely electric in his career at the University of Louisville, but his style of play left many wondering about his NFL future. Sure, a Heisman Trophy and a surefire lock into the College Football Hall of Fame look great on his resume, but Jackson’s style of play is questioned heavily in the pros. With guys like Robert Griffin III coming into the league as nearly identical prospects as Jackson and burning out so quickly, is it truly worth the hassle and use of such a high draft choice?

It is if you can set them up for early success in their careers, something the Baltimore Ravens have done for Lamar Jackson thus far.

While the team did pigeonhole Jackson early in the season by using him in run-only packages, this did give Jackson time to realize how much faster the NFL is compared to college. And while Jackson did progress as a passer throughout his career at Louisville, he still has a long ways to go to get to a higher level of play in the pros. With all this in mind, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect for Jackson to begin starting at quarterback for the Ravens.

Everything fell into place:

While it is unfortunate that Joe Flacco is on the mend with a lingering hip injury, the timing was terrific for Jackson. Baltimore had a bye week in week ten to get Jackson ready for a crucial game against the Cincinnati Bengals, a team who owns the league’s worst defense. Giving Jackson an extra week to prepare was fantastic, but having his first NFL start against such a porous defense was about as ideal a situation as one would hope for.

Obviously, his first start wasn’t perfect, and it certainly had it’s warts. Jackson completed 13/19 passes for 150 yards, but threw one interception and zero touchdowns. Additionally, Jackson fed into the stereotype of him being exclusively a mobile quarterback with 26 rushing attempts on the day. All in all, it wasn’t a fantastic performance, but it could’ve been much, much worse.

Playing against a bad defense let Jackson maintain high-levels of confidence with minimal success and big-play ability. Anyone who watched the game could tell you that Jackson threw some darts and made splash plays both with his arm and his legs. This performance could’ve been handicapped against a stronger defense.

Now, Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens host the Oakland Raiders, who own the NFL’s 26th ranked defense in total yards. This is yet another excellent opportunity for Jackson to continue getting his footing in the league by taking on bad defenses and learning how to cope with success and failures in the NFL.

The Baltimore Ravens upcoming schedule has some inferior defenses and will help for Lamar Jackson to continue maturing and improving his game as an overall quarterback. Looking at the Ravens remaining schedule, Baltimore faces just one team currently in the top 15 in defenses (the Los Angeles Chargers) who are still just 14th in the league. Lamar Jackson should remain Baltimore’s starting quarterback for the remainder of the 2018 season, and the schedule left ahead is sublime for Jackson’s continued development.