OWINGS MILLS, Md. — From his time as a national-title-winning quarterback at Tennessee to six years playing professionally to a decade and a half in coaching, Tee Martin has been surrounded by quarterbacks. Peyton Manning, Rich Gannon, Donovan McNabb, so many more. But Martin said he has never seen a quarterback such as Lamar Jackson, his star pupil now that he is the Baltimore Ravens’ quarterbacks coach. A lot of football lifers say that; Jackson’s laser-beam passes and lightning-strike scrambles defy comparison. But Martin was not talking about the way Jackson plays the game. He meant the way Jackson sees it.
Few can outrun Lamar Jackson. Even fewer can out-think him.
By Adam Kilgore
January 18, 2024 at 7:30 a.m. EST
“He’s a savant,” Martin said. “That’s the only way I can say it. If you’re a teacher at a high school or college and you realize you have this genius student and they’re just a little different than everyone, cultivate an atmosphere for him. Don’t try to bring that person down to everyone else’s level. Make everyone go up to his level. And Lamar is like that kind of student. He is different.”
Jackson will enter the NFL playoffs Saturday against the Houston Texans under more pressure than any other player in the league. He owns one MVP trophy and probably will add a second next month. But he has only one playoff victory. Injuries have prevented him from even playing in the postseason the past two years, and his most notable playoff moment remains the Ravens’ one-game flameout after the 2019 season as the AFC’s top seed. Baltimore earned that position again this year with a 13-4 record built on a smothering defense and Jackson’s incandescence.
In his first season playing on a $260 million contract extension he negotiated himself, Jackson flourished in a new offense and reasserted himself as the NFL’s best player. A deep playoff run would validate his stature and erase the sourness of the 2019 season. Jackson is different from the player he was then. He is also different from his peers, in ways obvious and concealed.
It is nearly impossible to watch Jackson play and see past the physical miracles he performs, to look beyond a body that radiates fluidity and force. But that is where the heart and the durability of his excellence lie. The level of virtuosity Jackson reached this season flowed from how he wields his mind.
“I can’t give you the secret on how I see the game,” Jackson said last week. But those around him share clues. Coach John Harbaugh has said Jackson can take a mental picture of the field and explain on the sideline how an entire play unfolded, player by player. When Harbaugh reviews film, he realizes without fail that Jackson was correct.
Martin became Baltimore’s quarterbacks coach this past offseason after two years coaching the Ravens’ wideouts. He quickly came to believe Jackson has a photographic memory. Jackson could recall games he had played years ago, even back to college, in intricate detail: where he stood on the field, the way a defender moved, the weather, everything.
Baltimore Raven quarterback Lamar Jackson
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“When I first got around him, I joked with him: ‘Man, you’re like Lil Wayne. You’re gifted at that kind of stuff,’ ” Martin said. “But it’s not like he’s just improvising and reacting because he’s shook or just scrambling around running. He calculates: ‘The linebacker took that away, the safety did that, I was going to throw that, then that guy came free.’ He has a plan.
“He’s not just out there being an athlete. He really and truly sees and calculates what he’s doing, which is very unique with the speed at which he plays. There are dropback quarterbacks that can do that, but they’re in one place and not moving real fast. How fast he plays and how quickly he calculates, to me, adds to how unique and how special he really and truly is.
“You can’t simulate it. That’s what defenses recognize when they play him. You try to do it at practice, then you actually play him on the field, and it happens so much faster for a defense. That’s what’s special for him. I’m not talking about legs or anything. I’m talking about processing.”
Genius in real time
In Florida over the offseason, Jackson received a text message from Todd Monken, his new offensive coordinator: “‘I’m going to give you the keys to the offense,” it read. Monken explained that if Jackson got to the line of scrimmage and didn’t like what he saw, he would be able to rearrange the play — half-joking that any mistakes would be on his shoulders, too.
“I’m cool with that because I’m seeing the field and I’m out there,” Jackson said. “I’m the one that has to make things happen.”
In the Ravens’ previous offense under Greg Roman, Jackson would walk to the line of scrimmage with a “canned” package of options. He could run the play called in the huddle or throw it out — “can” it — and run another. This or that. Some teammates sensed in Jackson an unfulfilled desire to use his talent as an offensive conductor.
“He’s just being who he was called to be,” linebacker Patrick Queen said. “We’ve always seen it since we’ve been here. That’s why he would always get frustrated about stuff because he wanted to be so great and he knows [how to make checks at the line]. He just never had the opportunity.”
This year, Jackson can change multiple aspects of a play on any snap. If he diagnoses a pressure his blockers cannot account for, he can alter how the offensive line protects him. If that change will not buy him enough time, he can change the routes his receivers run. Several times this season, Jackson has switched one running play to another, sensing a gap in the defense, and conjured a long gain.
“He’s embraced wanting to do that,” Monken said. “... Not every quarterback wants that on their plate and [to] be empowered to change a play at the line of scrimmage or to put themselves out there where now they make the decision to change something at the line or protection. It starts with him.”
Martin pointed to Jackson’s production against the blitz as an illumination of how he improved at making checks over the season. Jackson posted a 114.6 passer rating when blitzed in the second half of the season, according to Pro Football Focus, which ranked third in the NFL.
Early in the Ravens’ October victory over the Tennessee Titans in London, Jackson walked to the line and recognized a defensive formation that suggested cover-zero — an all-out blitz, no safeties back. Jackson switched the play to a screen pass to wide receiver Nelson Agholor. His quick throw beat the blitz, and Agholor sprinted for a 19-yard gain, only a shoestring tackle separating him from a touchdown.
“It got them out of cover-zero the rest of the game,” fullback Patrick Ricard said. “That was a big one. It was one we talked about all week. And he did it. It was really cool to see him do it real time.”
‘Point guarding it’
Monken’s introductory text began an offseason in which Jackson, spurred by the disappointments of recent seasons and the security of his new contract, took newfound ownership. “He’s always had a single-minded focus, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it quite like this,” Harbaugh said. “He’s been that way since the offseason.”
In his new position, Martin introduced new drills, altered techniques and tweaked fundamentals, down to how Jackson stood as he received a shotgun snap: Rather than standing with his left foot forward, he started with his right foot up to make his drop more efficient.
“You’re talking about someone who’s already been league MVP, signed a big contract, and he came in with a humble attitude of getting better,” Martin said. “When you ask someone to make changes in a phase of their career when they’ve already seen success and you come in and introduce new things as a new coach, you can get pushback. Lamar listened. He accepted things. He tried them. When it didn’t work early, he kept trying to the point to where it’s a part of who he is and what he’s doing.”
Martin emphasized “finding throws” when plays break down. Jackson had typically relied on his electric running ability to rescue plays when pressured, but exercising patience and scampering behind the line of scrimmage could lead to huge gains. Martin and Jackson worked on drills to keep his eyes downfield and create a stable base from which to throw while scrambling. Many of Jackson’s highlight plays this season have come after he pinballs around the pocket, allowing receivers relative eons to come open.
“He’s kind of point guarding it,” Martin said. “It’s like: ‘I don’t have to be the dribbler and the driver and the dunker. I can dribble it and pass it sometimes. And when I need to dribble, drive and dunk, I can.’ That caused a lot more explosive scrambles this year — and a lot more efficient scrambles. When everyone is matching in coverage, you still have to deal with number 8.”
When Agholor joined the Ravens this past offseason, he realized Jackson possessed spatial brilliance. Jackson has an acute grasp of how defenders play him. When he studies film, he calibrates the defense’s reaction to his own game. He will make throws he never practiced or even discussed during the week because he can process the way a play unfolds so quickly.
“He sees the field at an accelerated rate,” Agholor said. “He’s probably the best at that. If you talk to him, he’ll be very clear to you that people move differently when they play him in terms of coverage.”
The threat of Jackson’s speed often jumbles the defense, turns it into pieces on a chessboard placed at random, and he can find patterns and spaces in the mayhem. He may be a remarkable athlete, but he is not faster than many opponents chasing him. It seems that way because Jackson manipulates the defenders and creates order among chaos.
“His athleticism comes from his cerebral understanding,” Agholor said. “Yeah, he’s gifted, but he makes plays because he’s thought about his process. He doesn’t just tuck and run. He knows the time to tuck because he’s moved guys ... with his eyes enough to give himself that gap.”
During practice before the Ravens pummeled the Miami Dolphins in Week 17, Monken drew up a play-action pass with the intent of throwing deep to Zay Flowers. Jackson made an odd suggestion: What if he dropped back like a left-handed passer? He believed it would cause Miami’s safety to fixate on him and freeze. The idea resulted in one of the highlights of the season: a 75-yard touchdown pass to Flowers that left the Dolphins feeling as if they had witnessed alchemy. It sprung from a truism Jackson has long known and exploited.
“I know the defense is always going to have their eyes on me,” Jackson said.
The entire NFL’s focus will be on Jackson for however long the Ravens remain in the postseason. Observers will marvel at his brilliance and scrutinize his playoff past. Everybody will watch him, even if nobody will really know what he is seeing.