Lamar Jackson and I stood against a wall inside the Baltimore Ravens’ Owings Mills, Md., practice facility a few weeks into training camp in August, and the reigning NFL MVP smirked a few times over the course of our conversation, almost as if to signal to me that he had something coming that he couldn’t quite let everyone in on.
He’d spent a ton of offseason time with his coaches, more than he had in the past.
He’d already been a great player, and everyone knew that.
But there was still, in his mind, plenty of room for growth. And that growth was coming, with the one percent he spent the spring and summer chasing.
"It’s just in the mental [part of the game],” Jackson said that afternoon. “Just being more of a student of the game, and not to model my game after Tom Brady, but Tom Brady’s a guy I feel like we should all try to look at—What had him so successful? Seven Super Bowls. He won with another team. His mindset, his approach to the game, him just knowing where all the guys are, knowing to get a protection.
“He’s not a guy who was a dual threat. He’s going to throw the ball. He’s going to protect it. I know I can get away from these guys, I know where the free rusher is, but let me protect it, let my guys work instead of going to run all the time. Small things. That’s the one percent.”
I don’t know if he’d tell you he’s got that one percent yet. But he’s sure getting there—and last Sunday’s win over the Broncos and Thursday night’s come-from-behind victory over the Cincinnati Bengals were good signs of it.
Since becoming the starter in mid-2018, the Ravens’ quarterback has posted a triple-digit quarterback rating in 34 games. In 32 of those 34, he’s had at least 35 yards rushing. Against Denver, he had four. That’s right, four yards on three carries. And he paired those paltry figures with a robust, and perfect, passer rating of 158.3. On Thursday night, he had a 141.4 rating, tossing four touchdown passes.
Now, of course, part of Jackson’s ability to operate from the pocket is enabled by the fact that the defense always has to account for him as a runner. But for him to win a game, almost strictly as a passer? It probably wasn’t happening like that prior to this year.
Which only highlights how, somehow, he keeps getting more valuable to the Ravens.
And with that, we’ll give you our annual midseason awards, as voted on by a panel of 20 general managers, assistant GMs, VPs and pro scouting directors. The idea of this has always been to see what the folks paid to know this stuff at a very granular level are seeing.
Starting with the MVP vote, you’ll notice that it’s not always much different than what the rest of us are watching.
Most Valuable Player
Winner: Ravens QB Lamar Jackson (12 votes).
Also receiving votes: Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen (3 votes), Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes (2 votes), Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels (1 vote), Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff (1 vote), Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson (1 vote).
This would be Jackson’s second consecutive MVP, and third overall (he won in 2019 and ’23), and that’s well deserved. It’s really hard to quantify what his value has become to the Ravens. As a passer, going into Week 10, he was third in the NFL in yards passing (2,379), second in yards per attempt (9.3), second in touchdown passes (20), 10th in completion percentage (68.2%) and first in passer rating (120.7). He’s worked his tail off, and the result is not just an uptick in those numbers, but also better chemistry with young weapons such as Zay Flowers and Isaiah Likely. And he’s still effective enough as a runner to allow the Ravens to run an offense that differs more from the average NFL scheme than any other. At 538 yards and 5.9 yards per carry, a third 1,000-yard season could be in the offing. Simply put, there are few teams constructed more around a single player. He, in turn, has made that setup sing—and proved to be more than worth the trouble to install.
Offensive Player of the Year
Winner: Ravens RB Derrick Henry (10 votes).
Also receiving votes: Philadelphia Eagles RB Saquon Barkley (4 votes), Goff (2 votes), Jackson (2 votes), Jefferson (2 votes).
After the Ravens’ Week 1 loss to the Chiefs, it looked fair to question the wisdom of signing Henry—as a ninth-year tailback, with a punishing style and a ton of mileage on the odometer. But after 10 games, he’s rushed for 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns, plus two more receiving scores. The genius of his addition wasn’t just the fit. It was how that fit, and Henry’s Bigfoot presence could supercharge the long-held physical, punishing identity that the Ravens have developed. One Bengals coach, in the lead-up to Thursday’s game, told me it looked on tape like Henry had put the established Ravens ethos “on steroids.” The results make that a fair assessment. (Barkley, by the way, deserves the play he got here as well, particularly in how he stepped up amid a ton of skill-position injuries in Philly.)
Defensive Player of the Year
Winner: Giants DT Dexter Lawrence (8 votes).
Also receiving votes: Pittsburgh Steelers OLB T.J. Watt (7 votes), Green Bay Packers S Xavier McKinney (2 votes), San Francisco 49ers LB Fred Warner (2 votes), Denver Broncos CB Patrick Surtain II (1 vote).
This one was interesting—I got the sense our panel struggled in voting on this one more than the rest. And while I know how good Lawrence has been this season, the result of the vote surprised me. One voter texted that Lawrence’s impact is “similar to the Cortez Kennedy year, where Seattle was awful, and he was dominant.” For context, Kennedy had 14 sacks, four forced fumbles and 92 tackles in his DPOY season. Lawrence is up to nine sacks, 14 quarterback hits and 34 tackles in nine games, which are outside numbers for an interior lineman, even if they don’t come with the turnover stats that Kennedy posted in 1992. That said, he’ll really have to keep this up to outpace guys such like Watt, who are playing on better defenses and teams likely headed for the playoffs.
Offensive Rookie of the Year
Winner: Daniels (20 votes).
I don’t think a whole lot needs to be added here. You know the deal. He’s thrown for close to 2,000 yards at the midway point. And we all remember his Hail Mary against the Chicago Bears.
Defensive Rookie of the Year
Winner: Los Angeles Rams OLB Jared Verse (19 votes).
Also receiving votes: Tampa Bay Buccaneers CB Tykee Smith (1 vote).
What’s wild is it’s not like he’s setting the world on fire statistically. He has 3.5 sacks, which is respectable, but not exactly historic, for a rookie pass rusher. But everyone knows. I’ve had a handful of coaches/scouts compare him to Terrell Suggs, just in the style of pass rusher he is, and the way he physically imposes his will in a game. And he’s become a key cog for how new defensive coordinator Chris Shula has gotten creative with his passing-down looks—some that don’t have a single linebacker on the field. The timing of Verse’s arrival is good, too, just as the Rams needed it after Aaron Donald retired. Verse should be lining up alongside Braden Fiske, Byron Young and Kobie Turner for a long time to come. And making the Rams look really smart for plucking him in the middle of the first round, too.
Coach of the Year
Winner: Dan Campbell, Detroit (8.5 votes).
Also receiving votes: Andy Reid, Chiefs (4 votes), Mike Tomlin, Steelers (3.5 votes), Dan Quinn, Commanders (3 votes), Kevin O’Connell, Vikings (1 vote).
My favorite stat from the Dan Campbell era … Prior to Halloween 2022, he was 4-19-1. Since, he’s 29–9. So on a dime, he flipped a .173 winning percentage into .763. That is incomprehensible, and a tribute to Campbell’s ability to reach, motivate and maximize people. For him to be able to get the guys to maintain a belief in his program, absent real on-field results for that long, is wildly impressive. Then, for that belief to be validated in such an emphatic way? Again, I don’t think there’s enough you can say about the job Campbell and his staff have done.
Executive of the Year
Winner: Lions GM Brad Holmes (8 votes).
Also receiving votes: Commanders GM Adam Peters (4.5 votes), Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (2 votes), Rams GM Les Snead (2 votes), Chiefs GM Brett Veach (2 votes), Ravens GM Eric DeCosta (1.5 votes).
To have Coach of the Year and Exec of the Year come from the same team would generally feel like a little much, but not in this case. Holmes’s draft record since becoming GM is incredible—with a steady stream of guys such as Penei Sewell, Alim McNeill, Amon-Ra Sr. Brown, Aidan Hutchinson, Kerby Joseph, Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, Brian Branch and Terrion Arnold selected. Those pieces have melded nicely with existing cornerstones such as Taylor Decker and Frank Ragnow, and veteran additions David Montgomery and Alex Anzalone. And then there’s Goff, who Holmes brought with him from L.A. as what most people regarded as a throw-in to the Matthew Stafford trade. Add it all up, and you have a team that’s winning now, and looks like it’s going to win for a long time. Holmes deserves a ton of credit for it.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Execs Pick Midseason Awards, Including MVP and Coach of the Year.
