Lamar Jackson is on the brink of becoming the newest member of what currently is a tiny three-quarterback club if he can rush the rock for a few yards on Sunday at the Los Angeles Chargers.
Jackson is just 28 yards away from breaking the 5,000-yard barrier rushing for a quarterback, and once he gets there (most probably in Week 12) he will add his name to a list of legends that only features Russell Wilson, Michael Vick, and Cam Newton throughout NFL history, per Statmuse.
Russell Wilson, the most recent addition to this group, achieved this milestone on Sep. 17 earlier this season and currently has a total of 5,198 rushing yards entering Week 12. However, it took Wilson 943 carries over 183 games to get there.
Jackson, on the other hand, and in a ridiculous contrast, is about to reach the 5K milestone on just his 82nd game come Sunday over (approximately) 830 rushing attempts (he has 828 to date).
Lamar is already in possession of the single-season rushing record for a quarterback, having racked up a ridiculous 1,206 yards during his 2019 NFL MVP season. To date, Jackson is the only quarterback with multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons on his resume, and he's just five and a half years into his career.
While still widely separated from Vick's total rushing yardage record (6,109 yards), the truth is that Lamar Jackson would do well in targeting that figure once he crosses the 5,000-yard barrier this weekend.
At the end of the day, we're still a few games away from the end of the season and Jackson is "only" 1,137 yards away from reaching Vick. Bulking up his 2023 tally along with another regular rushing season according to his standards would probably see Jackson break Vick's historic record as soon as next year.
Jackson should overtake Wilson by the end of this season (he's 226 rushing yards behind the Broncos quarterback) if all goes according to plan, and then take possession of the second place in the all-time list midway through the 2024 season by taking Newton's place (5,628 yards) before reaching Vick, hopefully, in around 12 or 13 months.