Let's think back to the offseason leading into the 2019 NFL season. Lamar Jackson was a popular fantasy football sleeper who was wowing his teammates in training camp but still had his fair share of doubters with Week 1 on the horizon.
What did he do in Week 1? 324 yards. Five touchdowns. Three incompletions. A 49-point victory over the helpless Dolphins. A 59-point outburst, the most points scored in franchise history. You can't get much better than that.
Or can you?
Mark Ingram thinks so. The veteran running back said that Lamar Jackson is "light years ahead" and a "million times ahead" where he was going into the 2019 season.
If his starting point last season led him to a league MVP award, a (questionable, to me) No. 1 ranking on the NFL Top 100 countdown, a single-season rushing record for quarterbacks... what the heck is going to happen in a year when he's a million times ahead?
I can't even imagine. But Ingram insists he's still getting better.
“He's going to continue to improve,” Ingram said (via Andrew Gillis of NBC Sports Washington). “He's going to continue to get better. He's going to continue to be more confident in his abilities within the offense, knowing the offense, knowing the ins and outs, the adjustments within the offense. He’s just continuing to grow.”
For one, the Ravens could make a much deeper run in the NFL playoffs, and they're my pick to win it all.
Jackson has the same mindset, and recent history is on his side. The past two MVPs -- Tom Brady (2017) and Patrick Mahomes (2018) -- went on to win the Super Bowl the season after they took home their hardware. Upon hearing this news, Jackson simply stated that he hopes he becomes the third in that line.
With Ingram's praise, it seems as though an MVP, a Super Bowl or both are reasonable goals for Lamar Jackson. A million MVPs would be the literal interpretation here, but two in a row will surely do for excited Ravens fans.
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