Getty Image / Rob Carr
Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson has certainly had an impressive first act of his NFL career, proving a lot of doubters wrong in the process. He’s already collected two MVP’s , and will play all but the postseason this upcoming season at 27 years old.
At this stage, it will be whether he wins a Super Bowl, and how many he wins, that will define his legacy. Nobody knows that better than his head coach, John Harbaugh.
The Ravens have been consistently good during the Harbaugh-Jackson pairing, but have yet to advance to a Super Bowl, losing in the AFC Championship Game at home last year against the Kansas City Chiefs. Obviously, the plan is winning Super Bowls,, as they have the roster foundation to do it.
But, it’s about more than that for John Harbaugh. His goal is to make Lamar Jackson the greatest of all time, he said at training camp on Sunday.
Harbaugh said this to Lamar Jackson and he reiterated it in today's practice, that the team's vision is for Jackson to become the greatest QB in the history of the NFL.
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) July 21, 2024
First off, that’s the kind on confidence you’d want your head coach to have when talking about a quarterback that’s won two MVP’s on the better side of 30. But, Lamar Jackson has a very long way to go to enter the GOAT conversation.
Right now, for nearly everyone, it’s Tom Brady. The three-time NFL MVP won seven Super Bowls with five Super Bowl MVP’s. That’s the bar. Who is behind him is widely debated, but the consensus is that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes poses a real threat to Brady. With three Super Bowls and two MVP’s already to his name at 28, that’s a resume that could maybe get close to Brady’s.
Simply put, Lamar Jackson would have to go on a ridiculous run to get into the conversation of those two. He likely would need at least three Super Bowls to to even get in that conversation. Brady and Mahomes have made collecting Lombardi Trophies look way easier than it is.
Jackson, who did not practice on the first official day of Ravens camp on Sunday due to illness, is destined for the Hall of Fame, but becoming the GOAT may be a little far-fetched.