Ravens Have No Concerns About Lamar Jackson's Injuries
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has missed 10 regular season games in the past two seasons at the most critical time.
Now, his future in Baltimore is uncertain because he has not been able to agree to a contract extension.
The Ravens don't believe the injuries will be an ongoing trend, but still, those issues could be a factor in Jackson's potential new deal.
Coach John Harbaugh is confident those setbacks won't be an ongoing challenge.
"I don’t anticipate this being any kind of a trend," Harbaugh said. "Lamar, I don’t believe is a guy who is going to have those issues going forward. You can’t think that, and, really, it’s just football. Both those plays the last two years are kind of freaky plays that happened – they can happen. So, Lamar is a very durable player. I know that people might take issue with that – I get it – but I don’t believe that there’s going to be a problem going forward, because I know how hard he’s going to work."
In 2021, Jackson missed the last five games because of an ankle injury and the Ravens lost all of those matchups. ending any postseason hopes.
This past year, he also missed five games with a knee injury and the team went 2-3. While the Ravens still made the playoffs, Jackson could have been a huge difference in a 24-17 loss to the Bengals in the wild-card round.
The Ravens and Jackson are about to restart contract negotiations. The two sides are reportedly about $100 million apart on a potential deal.
If the two sides can find common ground on a new contract, Harbaugh fully expects Jackson to be healthy and available to lead the Ravens throughout a 17-game season and beyond.
"Lamar Jackson works hard," Harbaugh said. "Whether it’s in the weight room, on the field, running, in the classroom, Lamar is all football. He works really hard at it, and that’s really what you do; you work hard, you get yourself in great shape, you go play the game the way you play it. And that’s what he’ll do next year.”
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