As Lamar Jackson showed up for the Baltimore Ravens' OTA session last week, one thing was clear: The star quarterback had lost a noticeable amount of weight, which was his goal heading into 2024. Jackson looks leaner and thinner, a similar build toward how he looked in his first MVP season (2019).
"I don't really know how many pounds I lost," Jackson admitted last week, via a Ravens transcript. I'm like two-something [pounds] right now, but I'll say it was important enough to be able to move around a little bit extra, that's all."
Jackson is listed at 215 pounds on the Ravens website, a noticeable change from the past few years. He admitted his target weight was "just under 230 pounds," but this seemed to be a happy medium in order to take off when the pocket collapses and continue with the dimension to his game that makes him so valuable.
"I feel great. It feels great to be out here with my guys, grinding and getting better. I feel great," Jackson said. "It's been so long (feeling that agile). We had COVID that happened to us; it slowed us down a little, but I feel great right now. I feel great."
Jackson hasn't rushed for 1,000 yards in a season since 2020, but has averaged 5.5 yards per carry or higher in each of the three seasons since. During those three years, Jackson has rushed for 2,352 yards and 10 touchdowns -- down from the 2,211 yards and 14 touchdowns Jackson had in 2019 and 2020 combined.
Jackson, the reigning NFL MVP, recorded his third career 800-yard rushing season in 2023, breaking a tie with Michael Vick (two) for the most such seasons by a quarterback in NFL history. He is the only quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to reach 700 rushing yards in five consecutive seasons (2019-23) and is the only quarterback since the 1970 merger to reach 600 rushing yards in each of the first six years of a career (2018-23). No other quarterback in NFL history has more than four such seasons in a career.
Even with those rushing numbers, Jackson believes he can be more agile than ever. He's not concerned about the lighter weight increasing his chances of injury either.
"We sacrifice our body each and every game [and] practices," Jackson said. "I believe it really doesn't matter about the weight."
