Lamar Jackson could use some help. Some assistance from a roster of agents, managers and publicists who call themselves Team Lamar. And the sole purpose of Team Lamar should be to flood the mainstream with commercials featuring their No. 1 guy.
Do what Baker Mayfield’s people did. But unlike Team Baker, Team Lamar would be selling a winning product. This should make it easy for them to come up with ad campaigns — for a sports drink, insurance company, fast food sandwich, it really doesn’t matter. Imagine the camera slowly zooming in on Jackson, standing alone in a vast prairie. The wind is blowing those amber waves of grain, a bald eagle is soaring above, and Jackson suddenly drops back three steps and slings the football. Just throwing, throwing, throwing to absolutely no one.
If the message is still a little too abstract, the spot could close with a voice-over guy — he has to sound like Sam Elliott — whispering the words: “Just look at that great American quarterback.”
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Maybe then Jackson, who plays under center for the Baltimore Ravens, could finally fit the stereotypical image stuck in the minds of some NFL executives, coaches, scouts and players.
The trouble is, Jackson doesn’t employ a cabal of image-makers that could be tasked with elevating his profile and changing the narrative that surrounds his career. And he hasn’t shaken free from his 2018 draft report card in which he was praised for his athleticism and running ability, with those skills showing how his game transcended mere passing. But his athletic reputation then, like now, was not centered on the qualities traditionalists associate with the quintessential star quarterback.
Almost five years in, despite his 37 wins as a starter and the unanimous MVP award in 2019, too many people in the league still don’t see Jackson as an elite quarterback.
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Judging by the survey released this week by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Jackson’s a nonconformist at best and a conundrum at worst. Fowler polled a mixed bag of more than 50 NFL folks about the best quarterbacks in the league, and Jackson was not named among the top 10. A surprising development but also the tax paid for possessing a different kind of talent while trying to thrive in a traditional space.
While the game has evolved, thrust forward by the arrival of athletes who are built like power lifters but as nimble as ballerinas, a particular mind-set remains stuck in the olden times. NFL quarterbacks should play a certain way.
Jackson doesn’t play like typical NFL quarterbacks. And they certainly can’t play like him. He’s a trapezoid peg in the square hole of signal callers. He doesn’t quite fit.
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In sports, sometimes it’s hard to be a freak.
Just as Jackson was receiving the top individual honor in the NFL, the NBA’s resident three-headed monster, Giannis Antetokounmpo, had started collecting his back-to-back MVP awards.
As Giannis led the Milwaukee Bucks to the championship in 2021, he still heard the cries of critics: ‘Yeah, but can he shoot?' Similarly, while Alex Ovechkin was climbing the NHL’s all-time scoring list, the protectors of hockey purity found smudge marks on his masterpieces, labeling Ovi as less than a complete player who didn’t care enough or play any defense.
Jackson hears the “yeah, but …” as much as any current great player, and judging by his recent Twitter beef with former NFL safety Bernard Pollard, he’s tired of it. After Pollard criticized Jackson’s passing, the quarterback devoted his Wednesday night rushing to his own defense, the way he spends Sundays escaping out of pockets. It’s not only that if a play breaks down, Jackson and his feet will take off; the Ravens have designed an offense around his powerful runs. He’s a more realized Fran Tarkenton. A faster Steve Young. An even more acrobatic Michael Vick. His legs and athleticism vs. your defensive line and secondary? Good luck.
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Oh, and there’s a right arm attached to his body, too. It might have happened during the summer months when football fans are desperate for content, but Jackson earned the mind-blown emoji from the official NFL Twitter account when he flicked a football 50 yards from his knee. It might not be as impressive, but during real games he has often shown off his throwing ability — such as his jump pass for a touchdown last season in a Week 2 win over the Kansas City Chiefs or his 68-yard connection to tight end Mark Andrews in 2018.
They didn’t look like the pretty spirals tossed by Aaron Rodgers or the bombs launched from Patrick Mahomes. But they were plays that led to the stats that matter most in the league: wins and playoff appearances. In four years with Jackson, the Ravens have made the playoffs three times.
If purists can pause the grainy highlight film of men playing with single-bar face masks long enough to stop holding Jackson’s skill set against him, then they would see he’s as pure football as they come.
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He embodies the very ethos of American ruggedness, something you would expect to be celebrated. His team plays in one of the NFL’s toughest divisions, with the emerging Cincinnati Bengals and the perennially competitive Pittsburgh Steelers, and he still became the youngest quarterback to reach 35 wins, beating out Dan Marino.
He says “Hell yeah!” to the stickiest of situations, such as going for it on fourth and one late in the fourth quarter, and he shows up to work even though his contract extension has yet to be resolved. Besides a few odd updates to social media — Jackson changed his Twitter banner and Instagram profile pic to a screenshot of a movie character with gold-plated teeth reading “I Need $” — he hasn’t used public whining to get his way in contract negotiations with the Ravens.
This strap-up-and-let’s-go-play persona should be how he’s marketed. As spellbinding as his version of football is in a league that actively encourages kids to play the game, Jackson would seem like the preferred superhero to represent the shield. But Jackson has not turned himself into a pitch man. He doesn’t even have an agent. As far as we know, Team Lamar consists of just himself and his mother.
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The lack of representation hurts his branding and possibly weakens his position at the negotiating table, but Jackson does things his way. He’s hard to figure out in the same way that he’s difficult for defenses to wrap their arms around. His way has worked, but being offset from the norm means paying a price, even if it’s symbolic — such as not making a list chosen by anonymous judges.
NFL executives, coaches, scouts and players still don’t think Lamar Jackson is a top-10 quarterback. That’s because he’s one of one.
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