Lamar Jackson has cleared his illness and is back at Ravens practice with plenty of time to catch up.
It shouldn't be too difficult. After all, most of the NFL is painfully familiar with attempting to catch up with the two-time MVP and failing. And while Jackson is coming off his second MVP season of his career, he remains far from satisfied, because his trophy case is still lacking the most coveted hardware: the Lombardi Trophy.
"That's been the first checkbox for me since 2018," Jackson, who missed four practices last week, said Monday. "I said that, April 26, whenever I was drafted. I said that and I meant that. This the highest level of this game we play. You gotta go out a champion, and that's what I want to be labeled as a champion, not just MVP here and there. I want to be a champion."
Jackson's Ravens sure looked like they were headed toward such a goal last season, finishing off the 2023 campaign on a winning streak that could only be described as white hot. It all fell apart, though, on a strange, frustrating afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium, when Jackson's Ravens mustered just 10 points in a 17-10 loss in the AFC title game to the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
If the Ravens needed an example to model, they found it in the team they couldn't beat. Now, they have to put their thoughts into practice, which begins with, well, training camp practice.
Thankfully, Jackson's illness is behind him. He's said Monday he's "feeling wonderful," and ready to get to work.
"Just because I was down, I'm still locked in," Jackson said. "I know what time it is right now, it's camp time. With me going down for a couple of days. my mind was still in it, 'like I gotta hurry up and get better so I can be out with my guys.' "
Jackson has never been more empowered by his coaches in his career than right now, ahead of a season in which John Harbaugh intends to give his quarterback more agency at the line of scrimmage with the hopes he'll reach the lofty bar set by the greatest of all time, Tom Brady.
"The G.O.A.T.? I'm not the G.O.A.T.," Jackson said of Harbaugh's hopes he'll become the best to ever play quarterback. "Tom Brady the G.O.A.T.,"
Jackson appreciates Harbaugh's confidence in him, but isn't going to rest on his laurels. As he said Monday, he's already rested enough this summer.
