The great gamble: John Harbaugh reveals the reason for drafting Lamar Jackson despite his low rating
John Harbaugh risked his future with the Ravens by urging the team to pick Lamar Jackson in the 2018 Draft.
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John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson (Image Credits: IMAGO/X)
The story of an underdog never fails to disappoint. It is so much more interesting to hear of a player that was expected to be average at best but went on to eclipse everybody’s expectations. No, this is not the story of Tom Brady, but the story of Lamar Jackson. The Baltimore Ravens quarterback has outlived the expectations and continues to dominate as one of the best field generals in the NFL.
Lamar Jackson was not poised to be a top pick in the 2018 Draft. His draft profile dubbed him to be an explosive athlete who can contribute to the offense more so by running and avoiding the rush.
His arm strength was not his strongest attribute at the time, Jackson’s accuracy was concerning, and he had struggled with under-throwing and ball placement at Louisville. This led 31 NFL teams to skip considering the former Heisman winner as their first-round pick.
However, not the Baltimore Ravens. John Harbaugh essentially put his future as the team’s Head Coach at stake by urging owner Steve Bisciotti to draft Lamar Jackson in the first round.
In the 2018 draft, the Ravens had the 25th overall pick and chose tight end Hayden Hurst. In a bid to land Jackson before he went off the market, the team quickly made a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles to land their 32nd overall pick. The Ravens sent their second and fourth-round picks in 2018 and a second-round pick in the 2019 draft to bring Lamar Jackson to Baltimore.
It was a surprising move at the time, but this decision saved Harbaugh’s job and is the reason that Baltimore continues to be the best team in the AFC North. In a recent interview with Ravens insider Garrett Downing, both John Harbaugh and John Bisciotti shared their thought process before drafting Lamar Jackson.
It was no surprise that they were about to take a chance by drafting him. The 2018 class featured the likes of Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, and Josh Rosen, but the Ravens were not in a position to draft any of them.
That was a different kind of year because there was a bunch of quarterbacks that year. We had the conversations about Lamar in the draft meetings all the way through, on the phone, how many times did we talk? But we didn’t want anybody to know….
John Harbaugh said
The Ravens were confident in their ability to build an offense around Lamar Jackson
The Ravens did not give the slightest hint of their interest in Jackson until draft day. Their calculations turned out to be accurate, and today, Lamar Jackson is a two-time NFL MVP, a top-three quarterback in the NFL, and a reliable piece around which Baltimore has built its entire offense. The team had numerous detailed discussions about building an offense around him prior to drafting him.
The conversations kind of came back around it and it ended up being ‘Can we build an offense around Lamar Jackson?’…And we decided that we could.
John Harbaugh said
John Harbaugh knew he had picked the right man for the job, and Bisciotti had faith in his HC and trusted his hunch
The top quarterbacks in the 2018 draft were all expected to be good franchise QBs, and Jackson was looked at through the same lens. He had the makings of something special, and his ability to use his legs drew comparisons to Michael Vick. In hindsight, those comparisons were accurate as today, Jackson has eclipsed his idol, the man who made dual-threat quarterbacks a ‘thing’ in the NFL.
Things worked out great for Jackson. It may seem surprising that a former Heisman winner fell that far down in the draft, but teams had valid concerns about Lamar’s throwing numbers. He had completed 57% of his total passes in college, and at the time, if a quarterback could not pass, then teams passed over him in the draft.
Former Colts GM Bill Polian argued that Lamar Jackson should consider switching to receiver due to his athleticism. He proved the critics wrong, and today, Jackson is the best bet Baltimore has made in recent history.
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