Lamar Jackson missed four games due to injury in 2025 and did not play anywhere close to his previous MVP-level caliber. His completion percentage dropped down to 63.6 percent, his quarterback rating to 103.8 and his QBR to 62.7. The discourse around the Baltimore Ravens’ franchise player was not kind as the cracks in his game began to appear and all the offseason has done is further convince a lot of his previous believers to abandon ship.
Jackson experienced an incredible fall in NFL Network’s list of the game’s current best players. After entering last season in the No. 2 spot, this year’s edition has him all the way down at No. 69. It’s worth pointing out that this list is done by polling other NFL players so the perception regarding Jackson is not contained to the media.
Colin Cowherd spoke for a lot of people on his show Tuesday by providing an update on his own personal financial position.
“I know longer trust Lamar Jackson in a big spot,” he said, “I’m selling my stock … I’d take Bo Nix today in a fourth quarter come-from-behind situation over Lamar.”
Lamar Jackson’s up and down career
That’s reasonable. Jackson’s playoff record has been abysmal and bright lights have caused him to shrink throughout his career. Last year, he didn’t even get the chance to falter in the postseason but that just served as a catalyst for pundits to look into his track record with a keener eye.
While doing that, something interesting came to my attention. Those numbers above are way off the ones Jackson posted while earning all the individual honors. Yet they really aren’t far off from every year he didn’t play his way into the top-2 of MVP voting. Essentially, he’s been about what he was in 2025 four other times and then had three unbelievable years (2019, 2023 and 2024). Those highs have allowed him to be the NFL’s all-time leader in average yard per pass attempt and quarterback rating.
In short, it’s been a lot of feast or famine for Jackson. Which makes him a very dangerous player to write off completely. I’m not sure where one can trade Lamar Jackson stock positions but that market has to be considered quite volatile. There is not another player in football who is capable of such wild swings, for better, worse or in-between. There’s a decent chance those selling low will regret that decision and Jackson is the player with the highest rise on next year’s top-100 list.
Combine all those factors and he’s one of the most compelling stories entering the 2026. You can say you know what type of story he’s going to write but his has more twist and turns than usual.
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