NFL writer Albert Breer surveyed 20 league executives to compile a list of midseason awards. Lamar Jackson, reigning NFL Most Valuable Player and Baltimore Ravens superstar, took home the midseason MVP award with 12 of 20 votes.
Another quarterback, Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, came in second with three votes.
Breer provided the following summary via Sports Illustrated:
It's really hard to quantify what value he has to the Ravens. As a passer, entering Week 10, he was third in the NFL in passing yards (2,379), second in yards per attempt (9.3), second in touchdown passes (20), tenth in completion percentage (68.2 %) and first in yards per attempt (9.3). Passer rating (120.7).
He's been working hard and the result is not only an increase in those numbers, but also better chemistry with young arms like Zay Flowers and Isaiah Likely.
And he's still effective enough as a runner to give the Ravens an offense that differs from the average NFL scheme more than any other. At 538 yards on 5.9 yards per carry, a third 1,000-yard season could be on the horizon.
Simply put, there are few teams more focused on a single player. He, in turn, made this setup shine – and proved that the installation was more than worth it.
On Thursday night, as Jackson dominated once again, he improved his passer rating to 123.2 and extended his league lead in that category. His midweek opponent, Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, comes closest at 108.1.
When Jackson delivered a perfect passer rating game last Sunday in Denver set the NFL career record. All the stats tell the same story – he is by far the one best pure passer in the league.
At the same time, he is the best rushing QB in the entire league.
In September, Michael Vick premiered his three-part documentary “Evolution of the Black quarterback” on Amazon Prime.
This season, Lamar writes the next chapter of this story. Jackson may be on his way to becoming the most efficient and productive quarterback in history.
He is evolving beyond his status as the best “dual-threat quarterback,” a term that is applied to black quarterbacks much more often than white quarterbacks and therefore sometimes has racist connotations.
Jackson is showing signs of becoming the best quarterback, regardless of his skin color.
Just as coach John Harbaugh predicted in the preseason.
