The businessman does not like to view things as risks
In a stacked quarterback class in the 2018 NFL Draft that saw five signal callers come off the board in the first round, many analysts saw Louisville Heisman-winner Lamar Jackson as the riskiest of the bunch. The polarizing dual threat would have slipped out of the first round if not for the Baltimore Ravens trading with the Philadelphia Eagles for the No. 32 overall pick to take him.
Longtime veteran and Super Bowl XLVII MVP Joe Flacco was the Ravens’ starting quarterback, so Jackson was not expected to be thrown into the fire like many first-round rookies at the position. This allowed Baltimore to put a plan in place for Jackson’s unique skillset for the day when he would take the reigns from Flacco. That day came a lot sooner than many anticipated as Flacco was sidelined with a back injury midway through the season, leading to Jackson taking over and the offense shifting radically.
The Ravens were sitting at 4-5 when Jackson made his first start against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 11. The team rallied around the young quarterback, finishing the season 10-6 and winning the AFC North for the first time since 2012. While Jackson’s performance was shaky in his first playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers and his passing needed a little bit of work, it was clear that Baltimore had something potentially special on their hands. That was proven correct the next season when Jackson won MVP, becoming just the second player to ever take home the award by unanimous decision.
After winning another MVP in 2023 and finishing second for the award behind Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen last season, it feels silly to imagine a time when Jackson was considered risky to draft. Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti never liked to think of it as a risk, though.
“I don’t even look at it as a risk,” Bisciotti said. “If it failed, we failed. It wasn’t that Lamar failed. The minute we’re making an out-of-the-box — again, how out-of-the-box was it — I just thought, well it’s gonna succeed because we’re gonna mitigate the risk.”
Baltimore has deployed historically great rushing offenses with Jackson as the driving force, but under offensive coordinator Todd Monken, the offense has become equally as lethal through the air. Jackson is not only the best running quarterback in NFL history, but he has developed into one of the finest passers at the position today — something many skeptics never thought possible.