Lamar Jackson named Midseason MVP, earns A+ grade after nine games

What are the odds? I'm not a betting man, so I don't know, but if I had to judge only by what I'm looking at Lamar Jackson do on football fields across the United States this season, I'd tell you the odds are in his favor to win his second MVP award this year.

The Ravens are 7-2 and tied for the second-best record in the league only trailing just one 8-1 team. Baltimore has a +115 point differential through Week 9, quite ahead of second-place Buffalo at +80.

Jackson in particular is having arguably his best season as a pro... and that's considering he won the MVP award unanimously in 2019. Just imagine! That's why Chris Branch of The Athletic named Jackson his "Midseason MVP" and gave him an A+ grade over the first nine games of the year.

"Remember when we thought the Ravens would trade Jackson before the season? And remember when no one made any worthwhile offer? Jackson has been electric this year. He’s completing a career-high 72 percent of his passes and is on pace for fewer interceptions than he threw in 2019, when he was the unanimous choice for MVP. A-plus."

- Chris Branch, The Athletic

As ridiculous as it sounds, it's really true that Baltimore could have really moved on from Jackson earlier this year when the franchise entered a fight against their quarterback amid the negotiations for a contract extension. Feels like years ago.

Anyway, with that solved, it's now Jackson in the pocket of the Flock and, as Branch put it in his writeup, "Jackson has been electric this year."

In fact, as Branch pointed out, "[Jackson is] completing a career-high 72 percent of his passes and is on pace for fewer interceptions than he threw in 2019, when he was the unanimous choice for MVP."

On top of that, Jackson has rushed the rock for a monster 440 yards in nine games, more than any other quarterback this season (Jalen Hurts is second at a distant 316) scoring five touchdowns while at it.

Lamar has racked up 1,954 passing yards on just 181 completions including throwing nine TDs against just three interceptions. He's considered one of (if not the) the NFL candidates to earn the MVP, and that's even though he's fumbled the ball 10 times already.

If this new version of Lamar keeps improving (nothing is telling us he won't or can't), then you can put some money on Jackson's name to get that second MVP award. There is simply no match for him in the NFL this season.

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