What Lamar Jackson really wants (IMO)
Cutting through the political fog of the Lamar Jackson/John Harbaugh situation
Hello again! It’s been a bit since my last post. That means there are a lot of interesting things to discuss. For today’s post, we’ll go with the Lamar Jackson/John Harbaugh conundrum.
When Harbaugh was fired, there was all manner of discussion as to the internal politics of the situation. There were pundits saying Harbaugh had lost the team, while others said he hadn’t. There were on- and off-the-record quotes, tales that Harbaugh and Jackson were not getting along, and suggestions that Harbaugh was let go because he wouldn’t change his offensive coordinator.
Those all make for great conversation, but I think the reality is much simpler than this. It boils down to this – Lamar Jackson wants to become the focal point of an aerial-centric offense.
Jackson made this clear prior to the 2023 season. The Ravens brought in Todd Monken as offensive coordinator. Jackson was so fired up for the change away from the Greg Roman offense that he said he was going to throw the ball 500 times in this new offense. It wasn’t hyperbole, as Jackson had 457 pass attempts that season.
That pass number moved even higher in 2024, with Jackson throwing a career-high 474 passes. He made the most of those throws. Jackson led the league in yards per attempt, adjusted YPA, QB rating, QBR, net YPA, adjusted net YPA and touchdown percentage.
It brought to mind Randall Cunningham’s memorable 1998 campaign when he made the switch from run-centric quarterback and led the league in QB rating, net and adjusted net YPA and touchdown percentage. The big difference is Jackson had Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely as his top four pass catchers. Cunningham had Randy Moss and Cris Carter, two Hall of Famers. For Jackson to do this with what was a B- to B-plus receiving corps was beyond impressive.
At that point, Jackson had to figure he’d done everything needed to show Baltimore’s powers that be that they should funnel the offense, and by proxy the entire team, through his passing skills. Instead, the Ravens added Derrick Henry and showed that they were still going with the run-heavy approach.
That had to be frustrating enough, but then the Ravens allowed 37+ points in four of the first five games of the 2025 season. That’s a situation that calls for a team to get into scoreboard shootout mode led by the passing attack. When Baltimore didn’t go with a pass-centric route during that span (the Ravens posted 200 or fewer net passing yards in three of those four games with 37+ points allowed) and got out to a 1-4 start, it became clear to Jackson that his visions of being a pass-centric quarterback just weren’t going to come true.
That’s probably why once he got hurt, Jackson seemed to check out on the 2025 campaign. He proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was capable of leading an elite passing attack, yet the organization simply wasn’t going to move in that direction.
It’s clear why the Ravens didn’t do this. To change to a pass-centric mode requires an organizational shift. You need pass blocking specialists, better receivers and a defense made to play from ahead. To say it another way, you probably need to be something like the Peyton Manning/Tony Dungy Colts. That’s not what Baltimore was during the Harbaugh era, and it was never going to be that way with Harbaugh in charge.
The problem for Jackson is it almost certainly won’t be that way with Jesse Minter in charge, either. Minter is a brilliant defensive coach, and he’s very much a Jim Harbaugh-style coach who is likely to try to win with a strong defense and a powerhouse rushing attack rather than go pass-happy.
(On a related note, if you want to see just how good of a coach Minter is, check out this clip on YouTube. It’s from Minter’s contribution to the Gaylor Family Benefit Whiteboard Clinic. Please use this CoachTube affiliate link if you want to purchase this entire portion of this terrific resource).
If Minter doesn’t funnel the team through Jackson’s skills, the football world may be having the same conversations next year about Jackson’s unhappiness with the way things are going. Let’s hope that doesn’t occur, but if it does, Baltimore ought not be surprised. It’s clear what Jackson wants. The Ravens know this and they need to find a way to keep their franchise quarterback happy if they don’t want to see a repeat scenario.
Photo of the Day
Mrs. Scientist is always on the lookout for unique photos. One of those opportunities showed up when a hawk landed on a homemade log swing in our neighborhood. The hawk is as comfortable as can be despite squirrels, cars and various other noises going around. It stayed that was as she moved around and took what had to be 10-15 photos.
To see more of Mrs. Scientist’s photographic talents (and to support her budding photography career), check out her website Flash Art Photography.
