Lamar Jackson is enjoying like NFL MVP once more, and that is his greatest soccer but

Lamar Jackson is enjoying a few of the greatest soccer of his profession proper now.

At first blush that assertion may appear outlandish. In any case, we’re speaking a couple of quarterback coming off his second MVP season, which he gained a yr in the past when he secured 49 out of fifty first-place votes. That fell one first-place vote shy of creating 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, properly 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, towards 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 carried out 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 evening towards the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a recreation the Baltimore Ravens gained by a ultimate 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 grow to be a pure pocket passer dates again to his freshman yr at Louisville, one thing we have now mentioned earlier than on these pages right here at SB Nation. On the shut of his freshman yr at Louisville, Jackson walked into Bobby Petrino’s workplace and instructed his coach he wished to grow to be 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 best way, however the quarterback we’re seeing proper now, and we noticed final evening in Tampa Bay, could be the perfect model of that quarterback but.

Take this landing go from Monday evening, to Rashod Bateman, and pay specific 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 protection downhill from depth, and opening up the house for Bateman’s vertical route.

That is high-level quarterback play from the pocket.

Then there’s 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 site visitors created in the course of the sector. Seeing that site visitors, he is aware of that Henry goes to be large open in the suitable flat, as the person protection scheme from Tampa Bay has extra our bodies in the course of the sector, and none monitoring Henry.

However Jackson waits till the final potential second to flash his eyes in the direction of the suitable and make a throw. That delay along with his eyes prevents defenders from breaking to the skin, which supplies Henry the perfect probability potential 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 technique to go within the 2024 NFL season, and issues can change.

However proper now Jackson, a two-time MVP and one in all solely two gamers — the opposite being Tom Brady — to win the award unanimously, is enjoying the perfect soccer of his profession.

That ought to terrify the remainder of the NFL.