Lamar Jackson is a quarterback in the National Football League, or NFL for short, and he is notorious for being able to run the football. The Baltimore Ravens drafted him with the thirty-second pick in the 2018 NFL daft. This pick was seen as a risk for Baltimore because many people saw him more like a running back than a quarterback.

Nobody could argue that Lamar can get it done on the ground, but many people questioned his ability to throw the ball effectively. They had good reason to believe this, as his college stats prove that at times he was more focused on running the ball than passing it. During his freshman year, Jackson successfully threw 135 for 247 with 1,840 yards, 12 touchdowns, and eight interceptions.

For a quarterback, these are very, very, very underwhelming numbers. Compare these numbers with the most elite quarterback of that college season and runner-up for the Heisman trophy, Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Watson threw 333 for 491 with 4109 yards through the air, 35 touchdowns, and thirteen interceptions.

With these stats its clear that Lamar was not getting it done through the air. But, Lamar was the best running Quarterback in the league by far. Lamar ran for 960 yards and 11 touchdowns. Compare that to Alabama’s star running back Derrick Henry who in 2015 won the Heisman trophy. Derrick the season before ran for 990 yards and 11 touchdowns. With these numbers its clear that Lamar can get it done on the ground.

But, people doubted his ability to get it done on an NFL level. Critics believed that Lamar couldn’t throw and in the NFL you have to do more than just run. But, on week one of the 2019 NFL regular season, he proved everyone wrong.

During this game, Lamar threw for 324 yards and 5 touchdowns with an 85 percent completion rating. These are MVP type numbers and even through it was only week one, people are looking at him differently. And to put icing on the cake, Lamar shut out the haters with the now iconic line, “Not bad for a running back.”