The Baltimore Ravens have a blossoming young star at the quarterback position with Lamar Jackson. He has already proven plenty of doubters wrong, as he has been able to grow in each year he’s been in the NFL while also racking up plenty of awards and breaking countless records.
When ranking his top 25 players under 25 entering the 2021 season, Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus rated Jackson highly on his list, giving him the No. 2 spot. When explaining his reasoning behind his ranking, Monson touched on his improvement not being a “neat curve in the right direction”.
“A year removed from his MVP season, Jackson is a fantastic example of how quarterback development isn’t always just a neat curve in the right direction. Jackson was still good in 2020, and he actually recorded a higher big-time throw rate than he did throughout his MVP campaign, but his touchdown percentage went from 7.7% to 5.7% while his turnover-worthy play rate doubled to 3.6%. Jackson is still a dynamic playmaker who likely splits the difference between those two seasons in 2021.”
While Jackson was spectacular during his unanimous MVP season in 2019, his numbers dropped off a bit in 2020. However, that doesn’t mean that Jackson didn’t improve in some areas of his game, as Monson talks about. It’s no easy feat for any player to put up MVP-type numbers every single year, so while his stats weren’t as impressive, he still took steps to becoming a better quarterback.
The only player ranked above Jackson on Monson’s list is San Francisco 49ers inside linebacker Fred Warner. There are a great amount of amazing players in the NFL right now who have yet to turn 25, and Jackson is one of the best among them. The former University of Louisville star is still on an upward trajectory, and has plenty of amazing football ahead of him.