The Baltimore Ravens have a chance to clinch the AFC North Division for the fourth time in the last seven years on Saturday afternoon, as a win over the hapless Cleveland Browns would be enough to get the job done. As Baltimore is nearly a three touchdown favorite over their divisional rival, it’s practically a formality that this will be an outcome. But what is not yet decided is if Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson will win his third MVP Award at season’s end.
Even if you don’t believe Jackson is the front-runner, there’s no way around the fact that he is certainly deserving of being one of the last men standing in the MVP conversation. He not only remains one of the league’s most electric playmakers, but he’s also become a far more efficient and effective passer than anyone outside of Baltimore will give him credit for. But within the Ravens organization, it’s a no-brainer… Lamar Jackson is the NFL MVP.
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s our MVP, [and] he’s our guy,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said, according to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “But you know what? That’s really not what we’re thinking about. I haven’t heard anybody talk about that. I haven’t heard Lamar talk about it. We’re just trying to win the next game.”
Point taken, but Ravens quarterbacks coach Tee Martin is thinking about it and he’s certainly willing to talk about it as well.
“This is the MVP of the National Football League, yet again, and it’s the best version of the MVP,” Martin said of Jackson. “And so to me, as opposed to trying to knock him or say voter fatigue or whatever people are trying to call this, we need to be awarding the growth and making note of it. Because what we’re all witnessing is the growth of a player that is not even 30 years old yet. And so that’s amazing to me.”
NFL MVP race likely to come down to Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen
While Joe Burrow, Saquon Barkley, Sam Darnold and Jared Goff all have solid MVP cases, based on current MVP odds provided by DraftKings, it looks like Josh Allen (-320 favorite) and Lamar Jackson (+225) are the only two candidates with a legitimate shot to be named the 2024 NFL MVP.
Josh Allen has finished in the top five in MVP voting in three of the last four seasons, and has been the betting favorite since Buffalo’s Week 11 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s been Allen’s cleanest season to date, as he’s boasting a career best touchdown to interception ratio, and Buffalo will end the regular season as the #2 seed in the AFC. Maybe most importantly, he’s had a handful of MVP Moments, like his game-winning touchdown run against the Chiefs and his scamper toward the pylon in the snow against San Francisco.
Meanwhile in Baltimore, Lamar Jackson is having a superior statistical season to either of his previous two MVP campaigns, and he’s on the verge of making major NFL history in numerous statistical categories. Depending on how things go this afternoon against the Browns, Jackson could break the NFL record for passer rating while also becoming the first player in league history to throw for 4,000 yards and rush for 800 yards in the same season.
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