Lamar Jackson has championship ‘urgency’ heading into 2024 season

The reigning league MVP knows he isn’t getting any younger and is determined to deliver on his draft day promise this year.

Seven years ago, the Baltimore Ravens traded back into the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft to select Lamar Jackson No. 32 overall. Before walking off the stage after receiving his ceremonial first NFL jersey, the Heisman trophy-winning quarterback’s first message to Charm City and members of the Ravens Flock worldwide was, “They gonna get a Super Bowl out of me. Believe that.”

While he has added several impressive accolades to his professional resume since entering the league—including being voted its Most Valuable Player twice—the championship he promised has eluded him and his team despite having some of the strongest teams of the past decade, and arguably NFL history.

Heading into his sixth season as the full-time starter and face of the franchise, Jackson is slimmer, faster, more vocal as a leader and more motivated than ever to finish the mission.

“I’m only 27, but that’s the way of life, especially the football life,” Jackson said on “The Lounge” podcast. “You’ve got to do it while you’re young, because when you’re older, there’s going to be younger cats, younger than you coming in and they’re going to be hungry too because they want to win the Super Bowl as well. That’s why I’m on the guys more now.”

The sense of urgency he feels is evident not only by how he interacts with his teammates but with coaches and executives as well.

“What I’ve noticed about Lamar really is more of an intangible thing, his urgency,” general manager Eric DeCosta said. “As a leader, his urgency with the other players. He’s just really in tune with the other players, every single day in practice. He’s so engaged with the coaches, he’s engaged with his teammates. He’s engaged with me.”

DeCosta shared the two of them meet after practice, discuss personnel and how they can improve the team.

“He’s got some great ideas and suggestions,” DeCosta said. “He just really wants to win badly. I’m seeing that. As a player I’ve always known that, but now I’m seeing his personality kind of come out more. I can really get a sense that this guy is so hyper-focused on this season, and really working to get a ring.”

Jackson hasn’t just challenged himself to be more of a leader but he is pushing some of his fellow veterans and franchise cornerstones on the team as well, especially on the offensive side of the ball where he has the most influence on outcomes of games.

“Sometimes [left tackle] Ronnie [Stanley] will be like, ‘Don’t be on the guys like that, don’t be on the linemen as much.’ I’m like, ‘Bro, we got to do it, we’re getting older.’ They need to hear that from me sometimes,” Jackson said. “ [It’s] just motivation. Never coming from a bad place. They’re not used to me speaking that much. Probably in the locker room, playing around. But on that field, they’re seeing another side of me. I’m hungry. So, everybody’s got to be hungry.”

DeCosta has been with the Ravens for nearly three decades since the organization came to Baltimore in 1996. He has been a part of a front office that has constructed a pair of Super Bowl-winning teams and others that were just as, if not even more, capable of winning it all but didn’t.

Unlike some teams who push all their chips into the middle of the table every now and then to try to capitalize on what they believe to be a championship window, the Ravens would rather be in contention year after because all it takes is one hot streak to go on a run to a title. DeCosta admitted that the Ravens’ 2012 Super Bowl team doesn’t rank among the best in franchise history. However, it was able to cement itself in the annals of history nonetheless because they turned it on come playoff time.

“We haven’t accomplished our ultimate goal, but I don’t really subscribe to the idea that your season is a failure if you don’t win the Super Bowl,” DeCosta said. “I know a lot of people do. If I did that, I’d probably be in a mental institution.”

While he didn’t want to speak for Jackson, he believes they all see an opportunity for this year’s team to be really good and make a strong push for a championship.

“We want to do it this year,” DeCosta said. “I feel an urgency with Lamar. It’s great. I love it. That’s how I am, so I really appreciate that quality in others. The urge to get better, daily just improve on things. That’s how you win as a team.”