After four weeks on the shelf due to injury, Lamar Jackson will officially return to the Baltimore Ravens for their Week 9 matchup with the Miami Dolphins. He was initially projected to return in Week 8, but the Ravens opted to keep him out for another game at the last minute, which might have upset league officials.
Considering the timing of Week 8, which coincided with the FBI announcing its massive NBA gambling probe, Jackson's late-week absence seemed more upsetting than it might have actually been. Regardless, the Ravens' handling of the situation could lead to a potential punishment to their draft stock, according to NFL insider Dan Graziano.
“My belief is that the Ravens, knowing this would be a short week and that practices would be more walk-through-ish, practiced him last week to ramp him up for this week's game,” Graziano wrote. “Their late-week injury report shenanigans didn't go over well with the league office, especially in a week that involved a major NBA gambling scandal, and I believe the Ravens will face some sort of league discipline for that, in the form of a fine and/or loss of draft picks.”
In the end, everything worked out perfectly for the Ravens. Many assumed that Jackson would return in Week 8 after the Ravens' Week 7 bye, but he instead got an additional week of rest while the team still managed a victory over the Chicago Bears.
Although he returned to practice, Jackson watched Tyler ‘Snoop' Huntley get his first start of the season in a 30-16 win over the Bears.
Lamar Jackson's injury absence ends in Ravens' Week 9
Whether or not the Ravens actually face a punishment remains to be seen, but Jackson will finally return to the team in Week 9. Baltimore removed him from its weekly injury report on Wednesday to confirm he will start for the first time since Week 4.
Jackson's return could not come at a better time for the 2-5 Ravens. Although they managed their first victory without him in Week 8, Baltimore's upcoming three-game road trip is a stretch that neither Huntley nor Cooper Rush would have been able to handle.
The Ravens face a Miami Dolphins team that is also coming off a rebound victory after multiple painful losses. The Dolphins battled through a Tua Tagovailoa eye injury to pick apart the Atlanta Falcons for a 34-10 victory that ended a three-game skid.
