Subscribe
Follow Us
The Baltimore Ravens selected Lamar Jackson in the first-round of the 2018 NFL Draft (32nd overall). It didn't take long for him to take over as their full-time quarterback either – finding himself in that role halfway through the year.
Jackson didn't disappoint either. Were his numbers perfect? No. However, the young quarterback showed a lot of promise and helped get the Ravens to the playoffs.
Jackson completed 58.2% of his passes (99-for-170) for 1,201 yards and six touchdowns compared to three interceptions.
Most importantly though, the team went 6-1 in the regular season with Jackson as the full-time quarterback.
With all that in mind though, what's in store for 2019? Here are three last-minute predictions for Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson this season.
3. Completion Percentage Over 60
One of the biggest knocks on Lamar Jackson's game when he was entering the league was his accuracy. While he struggled with it at times last season, so does every rookie quarterback (for the most part).
Although Jackson gets criticized for it so much, he actually had a higher completion percentage than fellow rookies Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, and Josh Allen.
He was still far from perfect, but that shows he's not behind the curve like some believe he is. Although he does struggle with consistency, that's something you should expect from a young quarterback still learning the system.
The Ravens will likely protect Jackson with shorter throws and let him air it out once they feel the defense is sleeping on it. This could help his numbers increase a decent amount. At 58.2% last year, he doesn't really need to improve that much at all to get to the 60% mark, so it's definitely in his zone.
2. Over 25 Pass Attempts Per Game
Lamar Jackson believes he's getting 30 pass attempts a game this year. That seems pretty high though. He only threw 25 passes once in a regular season game last year.
Yes, his pass attempts will definitely increase, but the Ravens will likely still want to ease him into it. Going from only starting seven games and throwing it 170 times in a season to throwing it almost 500 times seems like a massive jump.
Baltimore can use the luxury of having a reliable running back in Mark Ingram to their advantage here. They can give him a solid number of carries to keep the load off Jackson's shoulder. Of course, Jackson will get a lot of carries himself as well.
Basically, you need to feed Ingram and Jackson should get his legs going too. Due to that, there really won't be enough time in a game for the quarterback to get 30 throws in a game. 25 is a very reasonable and realistic number though. It's one that he can do a lot of damage with too.
1. Over 850 Rushing Yards
If you averaged out the games he started, Lamar Jackson was actually on pace for 1,271 rushing yards in a 16-game season. However, due to him not getting all that much playing time in the beginning of the year, he ended with 695. That's still incredible for a quarterback, but there's clearly room to go up.
I know 850 is a lot lower than the number 1,271 rushing yards he was projected for as a starter last year, but there are a few variables.
The biggest, of course, is that the Ravens want to make him more of a quarterback. He's still going to run, but don't expect 20-rushing-attempt games. Jackson had two of those last year (one being 26 attempts). He also had games with 11, 13, 14, 17, and 18 attempts. Expect him to stay closer to 10 with a few slightly higher numbers sprinkled in.
With that in mind, Jackson reaching 1,000 yards gets a lot more difficult. He'll still top the quarterbacks in this category though and find himself at least sniffing that coveted number. That being said, 850 is a much more realistic number.
