As we get set for training camp, we’ll explore five questions surrounding the team.
Today’s question: Does Lamar Jackson reach his peak in Year 2 with Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken?
Will Jackson take greater command of the offense?
There’s only one significant milestone left for Jackson to achieve – winning a Super Bowl.
Capturing a Lombardi Trophy may require the 27-year-old Jackson to have his best season, even better than his two MVP seasons.
Entering Year 2 with Monken and Year 7 in the NFL, Jackson’s evolution goes beyond just his throwing and running. Coaches will be watching Jackson’s pre-snap decision making during training camp, monitoring how often he makes successful audibles and varies his cadence to keep pass rushers off balance.
It’s part of the process for all great quarterbacks. The better Jackson becomes at orchestrating the offense and controlling what will happen before the snap, the better he will become at controlling the game after the snap.
“How can we push that even further and give him more responsibilities within the offense and doing more things that he likes to do and listening to him and things that he likes and building around that,” Quarterbacks Coach Tee Martin said at mandatory minicamp. “We’re off to a good start, and [I’m] looking forward to training camp to really get to the identity that we want to have before the first game.”
Jackson had enormous success in his first year directing Monken’s system and led Baltimore to the best record in the NFL. Given more freedom to change plays and route concepts at the line of scrimmage, Jackson set career highs in completion percentage (67.2) and passing yards (3,678).
Every opponent focuses on stopping Jackson, and he has spent his entire career facing a myriad of strategies designed to stop him. He’ll be challenged again by creative blitzes and coverages, but a year under his belt in Monken’s system puts Jackson far ahead of where he was last summer.
John Elway played 14 seasons before winning his first Super Bowl, while Peyton Manning and Drew Brees played nine. Time isn’t running out on Jackson to win a Super Bowl, but he’d like to as quickly as possible.
The still-young quarterback is ready to use this training camp to continue developing his craft.
“When you have players like that, you have to continue to push them,” Martin said. “It’s like that smart kid in the classroom, you can’t allow them to get bored, right? He’s like that.”
Will Jackson be ready to sizzle in September?
The Ravens will need Jackson to come out smoking from Week 1. They open the season against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who held Baltimore to 10 points in the AFC Championship Game. Then after the home opener against the Raiders, Baltimore faces three teams that made the playoffs last season – at Dallas (Week 3), vs. Buffalo (Week 4) and at Cincinnati (Week 5).
In 2023, it took time for the Ravens’ offense to gel. They didn’t score 30 points or more until Week 7. That’s when the offense hit its stride, averaging 34.0 points from Weeks 7 through 17 when the Ravens went 9-1.
Jackson may not play in the preseason – he didn’t last year. That makes his reps in practice this summer even more important, because the Ravens will need their offense to click to escape the first five games with a winning record.
Will Jackson maximize his familiarity with his targets?
Five of Jackson’s top six targets from last season are back – wide receivers Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, and Nelson Agholor, and tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely.
Both Odell Beckham Jr. (Dolphins) and Devin Duvernay (Jaguars) departed in free agency, and Baltimore drafted fourth-round wide receiver Devontez Walker. But for the most part, Jackson is throwing to targets he’s already familiar with, and the goal will be to strengthen their bond between now and Week 1.
The Ravens finished fourth in the NFL in scoring last season but missed more big play opportunities than they wanted for a variety of reasons. There were some overthrows by Jackson, some miscommunication on routes, some drops, and some occasions when Jackson did not have ample time in the pocket.
If Jackson and his teammates can capitalize on more big play opportunities in 2024, it will increase their chances to reach their ultimate goal.
Agholor is a savvy 10-year veteran who is excited to see what Jackson will do with his receiving corps returning largely intact.
“People don’t realize how cerebral Lamar Jackson is,” Agholor said. “The conversations he has with you, one on one, about what he sees and what you may see.”
Jackson has completed more passes during his career to Andrews than anyone else. Flowers (77 catches, 858 yards, five touchdowns) was Baltimore’s leading receiver as a rookie and built an instant chemistry with Jackson that should only improve.
Likely blossomed last season, catching five touchdown passes over the final five games last season after Andrews was injured. The Ravens are expected to incorporate more two tight-end sets to create mismatches and take advantage of Andrews and Likely’s skillsets, and Jackson has always loved throwing to tight ends.
This is a key year for Bateman, who signed a contract extension and will be starting training camp healthy. But Jackson believes Year 1 in Monken’s offense was just the beginning and that the best is yet to come.
“I feel like we’re taking steps in the right direction,” Jackson said during mandatory minicamp. “Guys are moving good, running great routes, catching the ball, blocking good. We look pretty smooth, but I can’t tell until we’re in pads.”