It has now been a number of weeks that we have been waiting for Lamar Jackson to return to the field for the Baltimore Ravens. As Jackson continues to work through a knee injury, should we expect to see him on the field on Sunday Night Football when the Ravens face the Cincinnati Bengals?
Is Lamar Jackson Playing Tonight?
Entering the weekend, we conclusively knew that Jackson would not be playing in Wild Card Weekend. Jackson could not return to practice all week, leading to his being ruled out on Friday. The Ravens’ QB has not been able to practice since leaving the game against the Denver Broncos in Week 13.
This will be the sixth game that Jackson has missed, and the Ravens’ offense has struggled in his absence. In the 12 games that Jackson started, the Ravens averaged 25 points, 356.1 total yards, and 193.4 passing yards per game. In the games that Tyler Huntley started (Weeks 14 to 17), the offense averaged just 12.25 points, 293 total yards, and 113.75 passing yards per game.
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The initial reports were that Jackson could be on track to return as early as the Week 16 Christmas Eve game. We have not had any news of a setback, so those initial reports were wildly overestimating Jackson’s ability to get back on the field. If the Ravens do manage to overcome the Bengals, a return for Jackson in the Divisional Round would mark seven weeks from injury to return.
In his five-year career, Jackson has played 70 games, starting 61. Ignoring his rookie season, as he threw just 170 passes and played fewer than 50% of the offensive snaps, Jackson has played in 54 of 66 potential games. In his second and third seasons, the two games he missed were due to being rested in the final week of the 2019 season and then COVID-19 in 2020.
However, over the last two years, Jackson has missed five games per season due to injury. In both of those seasons, Jackson missed the end of the regular season, raising some concerns over his ability to play a full season. With a new contract hanging in the balance, those concerns cannot be ignored. That said, recent reports still suggest that Jackson is in line for a big deal from the Ravens, or at least the franchise tag, this offseason.