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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
The esteem Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has carried with him since the moment he became an NFL starter still exists. You can’t deny that.
It’s just maybe not as high of esteem as it once was. Following a lackluster 2025 season in which Jackson seemed, at times, either divested or disinterested in helping his team win games or his role as a leader, that should probably be expected.
It still doesn’t make it any less jarring to see where NFL.com’s Nick Shook put Jackson in his rankings of every NFL starting quarterback from 2025, Nos. 1-65.
After almost a decade of being considered a Top 3 quarterback, Jackson came in at No. 11 and now finds himself firmly on the outside looking in as part of Shook’s “Tier 2” of starters,
While Jackson being behind fellow NFL MVPs like Matthew Stafford, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen isn’t necessarily a surprise, seeing him behind “Tier 1” players like Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence certainly is.
Jackson Not Even Tops Among ‘Tier 2’ Quarterbacks
Jackson wasn’t even at the top of Tier 2, where he found himself looking up at Super Bowl champion quarterback Sam Darnold, Caleb Williams, Jared Goff and Joe Burrow.
Stafford, the 2025 NFL MVP, took the No. 1 spot.
Jackson dropped 10 spots from 2024 and 2023, when he was No. 1 in NFL.com’s postseason rankings both years.
“Lamar Jackson wasn’t himself for most of the 2025 season because of the injuries he suffered,” Shook wrote. “His mobility disappeared for weeks, but once it returned, he reminded us why he’s won the NFL MVP award twice. His showing in Week 18 was scintillating and will remain burned in my memory for quite some time.”
Ravens Headed Toward Major Changes in 2026
The Ravens entered 2025 as Super Bowl contenders but stumbled to a 1-5 start before going 8-9 overall and missing the playoffs.
That failure led to Super Bowl-winning head coach John Harbaugh being fired after 18 seasons and being replaced with former Ravens assistant and Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.
Jackson’s disconnect with both Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Todd Monken seemed to be at the heart of Harbaugh’s dismissal. Those problems were never more pronounced than immediately following the Ravens’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a win-or-go-home regular season finale in which Jackson refused to say whether or not he wanted to keep laying for Harbaugh and the Ravens.
“You asking me about next year, Jamison, and I’m still caught up in what just happened tonight,” Jackson said in a video posted to ESPN repoter Jamison Hensley’s X account. “I can’t answer that right now. I’m still stunned. I’m still trying to process what just happened.”
Jackson Could Become NFL’s Highest Paid Player
In 2026, Jackson will be playing for a head coach other than Harbaugh for the 1st time in his career, and could be doing so with a new contract that would likely make him the highest paid player in NFL history.
Jackson’s last contract was a 5-year, $260 million signed in March 2023.
The best comparison for what Jackson’s new contract might look like would be the one Prescott signed with the Dallas Cowboys before the 2024 season — a 4-year, $240 million contract before the 2024 season that made him the NFL’s first $60 million per year player. The deal for Jackson should top that in terms of average annual salary.
Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame
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