Ravens' Lamar Jackson explains offseason weight loss

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is one of — if not the fastest — quarterbacks in the NFL, but he believed he could always be faster.

The 27-year-old QB recently decided to shed a few extra pounds from his 215-pound frame to help with that, cutting from 215 pounds down to 205 at the start of training camp this year.

“[I decided to slim down] just so I can move around without getting fatigued,” Jackson told CBS Sports . “I don’t know if I was getting fatigued last year…but I don’t like getting caught [from behind] if I do decide to run, so yeah [increasing my speed] is part of it.”

Jackson’s come a long way in getting his weight to a place where he’s satisfied with it.

He admitted he was motivated to start slimming down two seasons ago after watching a video of himself running. Jackson weighed in at 230 pounds during the 2022 season, and he believes his 25-pound weight loss will help him outrun any defender.

“I felt like I was fat,” Jackson added. “I just saw a video from two years ago, watching us play I think it was the Browns, and I looked, like, out of shape. But I was in shape. … My eyes might be deceiving me, but I looked a little slower to me, but not now.”

Jackson has ranked either first or second among QBs in rushing yards every season of his six-year NFL career. He led the league in rushing in 2018 (695 yards), 2019 (1,206 yards) and 2020 (1,005 yards) and again last season (821 yards).

In fact, there have only been four 1,000-yard rushing seasons by a quarterbacks in NFL history, and two of them belong to Jackson. (Michael Vick and Justin Fields have the others.)