Ravens coach John Harbaugh: Lamar Jackson can become the best quarterback in NFL history

Lamar Jackson missed the start of training camp because of an illness.

Then Baltimore coach John Harbaugh delivered a bit of a speech, talking up his star quarterback at the end of his session with reporters.

Following the Ravens’ first full-squad practice of camp, Harbaugh spoke for more than two straight minutes about Jackson and the future — and in doing so made it quite clear what the team’s hopes and expectations are.

“The vision that we have together is that Lamar Jackson is going to become and be known and be recognized as the greatest quarterback ever to play in the history of the National Football League,” Harbaugh said. “That’s the vision. It’s going to happen by Lamar, his work ethic and his brilliant talent, by all of us pouring into that effort, together as a team, teamwork, and by the grace of God and God’s goodwill. That’s how it’s going to happen. And I believe it like we’ve already seen it.”

Moments earlier, Harbaugh had talked about some of the team’s themes entering the 2024 season: vision, standards — and the ability to meet and raise the standard. The Ravens set the bar pretty high last season with a dominant regular season. Jackson won his second MVP award. But Baltimore lost in the AFC championship game to Kansas City, whose own quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, has put together an impressive résumé in the debate over the greatest quarterback of all time.

So Jackson still faces his share of critics.

“I read the stuff. I see the guys say what they say on the shows. At least I get clips of them because they come up on your phone,” Harbaugh said. “There’s a lot of great things said about Lamar, but there’s a lot of stuff that’s said that you got to just scratch your head about and kind of wonder, what’s that person even thinking? But we take it personally.

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“Lamar’s a guy, all his life, Lamar Jackson has been a guy who’s been answering those same questions. I’m talking about since he was a kid, junior high, high school, college, the draft, the success he’s had in the National Football League — and it still comes up.”

Harbaugh’s remarks came across as both a defiant defense of his franchise quarterback — and perhaps a bit of tone setting about what the Ravens might need from Jackson if they’re going to reach a Super Bowl.

“He’s got a growth mindset. He’s going to get better and better, no doubt. But what does he have to do to prove himself to some people, right?” Harbaugh said. “We’ve always had a vision for Lamar Jackson, and it started with Lamar’s vision and his mom’s vision when he said he was going to be a quarterback. … We bought into that. We embraced it. We built an offense for it in ‘19. We’re building another offense for it in ‘23 and ’24, going forward, right? The next iteration of our offense, around Lamar Jackson.”

Harbaugh said Jackson started getting sick Saturday. The coach didn’t give a timeline for his return to practice. Linebacker Asida Isaac (hamstring), defensive back T.J. Tampa (sports hernia) and running back Keaton Mitchell (knee) were absent Sunday as well.

The Ravens play in the NFL’s season opener at Kansas City on Sept. 5.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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