Baltimore Ravens Select QB Lamar Jackson in 1st Round of NFL Draft
By Ben Palmer
The Baltimore Ravens have selected QB Lamar Jackson with the 32nd pick of the NFL Draft after making a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Baltimore Ravens have selected quarterback Lamar Jackson with the 32nd pick of the NFL Draft after making a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles, sending the Ravens’ 2018 second-round and fourth-round picks and 2019 second-round pick to the Eagles in exchange for their first-round and fourth-round picks.
Jackson has been a hot issue among NFL Draft analysts since the offseason began. There’s no denying that Jackson is a talented athlete, but there have been questions about his ability as a passer.
Jackson finished last season with 430 passes for 3,647 yards and 27 touchdowns. He also ran the ball 232 times for 1,601 yards and 18 touchdowns, marking the second year in a row that he threw for more than 3,000 yards and rushed for over 1,000 yards. That dual-threat talent led him to a Heisman Trophy in 2016.
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However, there are problems with Jackson’s game. Along with his 27 touchdowns last year came 10 interceptions, which isn’t terrible, but isn’t ideal either. Jackson has had many instances in which he’s misread plays or missed linebackers underneath that have led to turnovers.
He’s also not the most accurate passer around, but he does possess a powerful arm and is able to throw powerful bullet passes while also maintaining a nice touch on passes deep down the field.
There’s something to be said for the style of play that Jackson brings to the Baltimore Ravens. He’s not going to be starting this year unless Joe Flacco gets injured, however he’ll have a team around him that can develop him.
Not only will he have Flacco to work with, but he’ll also have Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg who coached Michael Vick in the past, and assistant coach Greg Roman, who coached Colin Kaepernick. Not only that, but Robert Griffin III, himself a mobile quarterback and former Heisman winner, is also on the team.
If Jackson is able to develop his pass accuracy a bit, he can be a scary player, but even if he isn’t, we’ve seen highly-athletic quarterbacks with powerful arms and slight accuracy issues have a lot of success in the NFL (Vick come to mind).
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If and when Jackson takes over the Baltimore Ravens offense, it’s going to require a little creativity, but the team could develop an offense around him that could be a major threat in the NFL.