Lamar Jackson has turned in one of his best NFL seasons to date in 2023, leading the Baltimore Ravens to a dominant regular-season performance and the AFC’s No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs.
The star quarterback’s production has him as one of the favorites to win the league’s Most Valuable Player award for the second time in his career.
Lamar Jackson’s Case for MVP
Jackson has turned in the most prolific passing season of his career this year in helping push the Ravens to a 13-3 record across his 16 starts before an inconsequential Week 18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers as he sat with the top playoff seed already secured.
Jackson has completed a career-high 67.2% of his pass attempts for a career-best 3,678 yards, 24 touchdowns, and seven interceptions on the year, while still being his usual self running the ball with 821 rushing yards for five scores.
The passing scores number is a bit down from when he threw for 36 touchdowns in 2019, but a portion of that seems to owe to running back Gus Edwards being the goal-to-go choice with 13 rushing scores on the year.
Jackson has put up those passing numbers despite throwing to a banged-up and somewhat unproven receiving corps featuring rookie Zay Flowers, veteran Odell Beckham Jr., and dependable tight end Mark Andrews, who missed significant time due to injury.
Plenty of other options have stepped up in spotty roles behind those guys as well, with Jackson helping to elevate their production amid a breakout year passing the ball.
That production combined with Baltimore’s stout defense helped the franchise finish the regular season with the best record in the NFL at 13-4, one win better than the NFC’s San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, and Detroit Lions, and at least two victories ahead of the rest of the pack in the AFC.
MORE: NFL MVP Odds — Is Lamar Jackson Guaranteed To Win the Award?
Playing for the best team in the league throughout the regular season certainly doesn’t hurt Jackson’s case, particularly with the strides he has made to elevate himself as a passer amid critiques as to his throwing abilities.
Jackson appears the likely front-runner for the MVP award at this point, though Josh Allen, Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, and even Dak Prescott could also be among the contenders.
Allen overcame some early turnover issues to lead the Buffalo Bills into the playoffs after a rough start to the season collectively. He ultimately threw for 4,306 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions while rushing for 524 yards and 15 more scores.
He seems to have one of the best cases to jump Jackson among any of the other potential honorees.
Purdy and McCaffrey have both had strong seasons in anchoring the NFC’s top team, while Prescott put up strong numbers through much of the regular season before Dallas’ playoff collapse.
Time will tell who ultimately takes home the trophy, but Jackson has certainly made a strong case to win his second MVP award.
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