Lamar Jackson is taking part in like NFL MVP once more, and that is his finest soccer but

Lamar Jackson is taking part in among the finest soccer of his profession proper now.

At first blush that assertion might sound outlandish. In any case, we’re speaking a couple of quarterback coming off his second MVP season, which he gained a 12 months in the past when he secured 49 out of fifty first-place votes. That fell one first-place vote shy of constructing Jackson one of many uncommon “unanimous” MVP winners, a feat he did handle to perform again in 2019.

However the movie, and the stats, present that proper now the model of Jackson we’re seeing is even higher than earlier variations.

In the meanwhile Jackson leads the NFL with an Adjusted Web Yards per Try of 9.48, nicely forward of Josh Allen who sits second with a mark of 8.42. He leads the NFL with an Adjusted Yards per Try of 10.20, the one quarterback in double digits in that class. He has thrown for 15 landing passes, in opposition to only a pair of interceptions.

He’s doing this whereas posting the third-highest Anticipated Factors Added per Play amongst quarterbacks (behind solely Allen and rookie Jayden Daniels), and whereas posting a Completion Share Over Anticipated of 4.0.

Whenever you chart these “quarterback effectivity” metrics, as is executed every week at RBSDM, you get outcomes like this, placing Jackson on the high of the charts:

He’s additionally doing this whereas including one other 455 speeding yards and two touchdowns on the bottom.

Jackson is coming off a dynamic night time in opposition to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a sport the Baltimore Ravens gained by a remaining rating of 41-31. Jackson accomplished 17-of-22 passes for 281 yards and 5 touchdowns, whereas including one other 55 speeding yards on 9 carries.

However past the numbers, is how Jackson is placing them up. His lengthy quest to change into a pure pocket passer dates again to his freshman 12 months at Louisville, one thing we have now mentioned earlier than on these pages right here at SB Nation. On the shut of his freshman 12 months at Louisville, Jackson walked into Bobby Petrino’s workplace and advised his coach he needed to change into what the younger QB termed a “actual quarterback.”

That course of has seen peaks and valleys, and Jackson has shouldered his fair proportion of criticism alongside the way in which, however the quarterback we’re seeing proper now, and we noticed final night time in Tampa Bay, may be the very best model of that quarterback but.

Take this landing cross from Monday night time, to Rashod Bateman, and pay explicit consideration to his eyes.

Did you see how Jackson makes use of his eyes to affect Antoine Winfield Jr. downhill in the direction of the dig route from Nelson Agholor, earlier than throwing the vertical path to Bateman? Jackson’s eyes create the throwing window, bringing the security downhill from depth, and opening up the house for Bateman’s vertical route.

That is high-level quarterback play from the pocket.

Then there may be this landing to Derrick Henry, on a mesh idea within the pink space. Once more, have a look at Jackson’s eyes on this:

Jackson is aware of the route idea, and after the snap sees the visitors created in the midst of the sector. Seeing that visitors, he is aware of that Henry goes to be huge open in the precise flat, as the person protection scheme from Tampa Bay has extra our bodies in the midst of the sector, and none monitoring Henry.

However Jackson waits till the final attainable second to flash his eyes in the direction of the precise and make a throw. That delay together with his eyes prevents defenders from breaking to the surface, which provides Henry the very best likelihood attainable to make the catch and get into the tip zone.

After all, Jackson is making performs like that from the pocket, whereas nonetheless doing issues like this to create magic out of near-disaster moments:

Actually there’s a lengthy strategy to go within the 2024 NFL season, and issues can change.

However proper now Jackson, a two-time MVP and certainly one of solely two gamers — the opposite being Tom Brady — to win the award unanimously, is taking part in the very best soccer of his profession.

That ought to terrify the remainder of the NFL.