Lamar Jackson is a great quarterback and there is no taking away from that. What he has done over the last six seasons is nothing but high-level quarterback play.
Still, with a couple of MVPs in hand and a three-time Pro Bowler, Jackson has failed to have much success in the playoffs. Entering his seventh season, the Ravens have yet to reach the Super Bowl with Jackson.
One common talking point when it comes to Jackson is the lack of wide receivers that he has had to work with. Since arriving in Baltimore, it is fair to say that Jackson has not had a true top-level wide receiver to throw the football to. One former NFL player argues that is not a problem.
"I do not want to hear from all of you out there that are telling me that Lamar Jackson, 'Well they don't get him weapons' ... How many first-round wide receivers do you need to draft?" 12-year NFL veteran Mark Schlereth said. "'Well they're not drafting the right ones,' well you're not developing them. 'Well, how do you develop them?' Well, your quarterback has a long way to go in developing wide receivers. So I don't want to hear that bulls*** from you anymore, any of you Baltimore fans, I'm tired of it.”
Schlereth is certainly right that the best quarterbacks have to elevate the talent around them. We just watched Patrick Mahomes take a wide receiver group that was led by a rookie to a Super Bowl win. On the way to that Super Bowl, the Chiefs beat the Ravens in the AFC Championship and stopped Baltimore from reaching the final game.
"They drafted the first round of talent, they drafted tight ends in the first round, they've drafted three different wide receivers since 2018 in the first round. I mean, Aaron Rodgers went what, 16 or 17 years with the Green Bay Packers. They never drafted a guy in the first round, whether it was a tight end or a wide receiver for him. So don't tell me about it. I mean, it's one of those things, don't tell me about the pain, show me the baby, produce in the playoffs.”
Zay Flowers was very good as a rookie and has a chance to develop into a very good wide receiver that could be a top option. Mark Andrews is still going to be a heavy part of the passing game and even more so than last season since he is healthy now. Still, Jackson needs to elevate the rest of the talent around him.
Until he can get over the jump and win a Super Bowl, it is going to be a talking point about Jackson, the fact of whether or not he can lift up the personnel around him to win.
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