John Harbaugh says Ravens’ vision for Lamar Jackson is to be ‘greatest quarterback ever’

Lamar Jackson has exceeded any reasonable expectations I had of him when he came into the NFL.

Jackson was the last pick of the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. After that, Jackson won two NFL MVP awards and the Baltimore Ravens have been one of the best teams in the league with him at quarterback. Every other NFL player with multiple MVP awards is either in the Pro Football Hall of Fame or has their spot secured once they become eligible. Jackson will join them in the Hall of Fame one day. Pretty good for the 32nd pick in the draft.

But the Ravens are thinking bigger. In a passionate defense of Jackson as training camp begins, coach John Harbaugh said the Ravens want Jackson to be known as the greatest quarterback of all time when he’s done.

“The vision we have together is that Lamar Jackson will become the greatest quarterback to ever play in the history of the National Football League,” Harbaugh told reporters. By ESPN’s Jamison Hensley.

Of course, there’s one part of Jackson’s resume that needs to be completed before he can participate in that discussion.

Lamar Jackson is still looking for a title

The list of the best quarterbacks in the NFL has the same names, in some order: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Johnny Unitas, John Elway, Aaron Rodgers. Patrick Mahomes is probably already on that list, too. All of those quarterbacks won a championship. Jackson hasn’t even been to a Super Bowl yet.

It’s unfair to place all of that blame on Jackson. A team’s success or failure isn’t solely down to the quarterback. But when we’re talking about being the greatest of all time, a quarterback isn’t going to be in that conversation without at least one ring. It’ll probably take multiple rings to win the argument over Brady and his seven championships.

Jackson hasn’t played very well in the playoffs yet. He and the Ravens fell short again, when as the No. 1 seed at home for the AFC championship game they lost to Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Ravens are 2-4 in the playoffs in Jackson’s starts.

But Jackson is laying the groundwork for his own greatness. He’s been a great passer and runner. If he starts getting some rings, Harbaugh’s vision could become a reality.

John Harbaugh defends Jackson

Harbaugh’s defense of Jackson was a bit unnecessary. Jackson has some detractors, but it’s a small list, and if you look hard enough, you can find critics of every NFL quarterback. At this point, not everyone who understands the NFL is blindly criticizing Jackson. And pointing out that he has yet to have postseason success that matches his regular-season success is fair.

Much of what Harbaugh was criticizing came from old stereotypes about Jackson, based on outdated stereotypes that he couldn’t be a productive quarterback in the NFL. Those old feelings aren’t going away, though, which is understandable considering how insulting they were to Jackson.

“We take it personally,” Harbaugh said. “Lamar is a guy who, his whole life, Lamar Jackson has been a guy who has answered those same questions. I’ve been talking about it since I was a kid.”

Most of those questions have already been answered, at least for clear-minded people. Jackson won a unanimous MVP award and garnered 49 of the 50 votes for the award last season. And Harbaugh believes Jackson continues to improve as he enters his age-27 season.

“He’s definitely going to get better and better,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh asked what Jackson needs to do to prove himself to those anonymous critics, and the answer is pretty easy: win the Super Bowl. That’s the criteria every great quarterback of all time uses when ranking them. That, too, will be part of what defines Jackson’s legacy.

Jackson has time to add that to his list of accomplishments. And then maybe Harbaugh can give another speech.