Things have been turning up well for the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson. About a month ago so many fans and media personalities thought that this was the end of Jackson with the Ravens. Now that the NFL draft is over Jackson is signed long term and there is a lot of good reason to think that he may be in store for the best season of his career.
Here are three reasons why Lamar Jackson is set to have his best season since his MVP year.
3. Baltimore Ravens signed Lamar Jackson and still have the best supporting cast around him in his career
So much for the Jackson contract hurting their ability to put pieces around him. A lot of the talk around Jackson during his rookie contract is that the team did not do enough to get him pass catchers, and they treated him like a running quarterback, even when he was growing as a passer.
That is not going to be the case this season. He will always have his safety blanket in Mark Andrews. Rashod Bateman is coming off of a foot injury but when he was on the field was electric. Then, the team added Odell Beckham and Zay Flowers. Those are big names that can move the needle.
Last year, his top receivers were Andrews, Demarcus Robinson, Devin Duvernay, and Isaiah Likely. Now, Robinson is gone, Duvernay has moved down about four or five spots, and Likely is competing with Nelson Agholor and JK Dobbins to be the fifth guy.
In 2021, Watkins was their fourth, and in 2020 he had guys such as Willie Snead and Miles Boykin as his top four wideouts. In 2018 and 2019 he had Nick Boyle in that role.
So, whether you think Odell Beckham will be back to himself, or whether you buy into Zay Flowers as a rookie, you have to admit that both of them are better than guys like Watkins, Demarcus Robinson, Boykin, Snead, and Boyle.
That does not add in that JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards are now fully healthy, Isaiah Likely is in year two, Charlie Kolar may get on the field, and even Nelson Agholor is better than Demarcus Robinson. Those are serious improvements and reasons to buy into the Baltimore Ravens this year.