- [Narrator] Lamar Jackson is part of a rare group
of players who have won the Heisman Trophy
and an NFL MVP award.
Even more impressive, Jackson is one
of just two MVPs to win the award unanimously.
The other is Tom Brady, widely regarded
as the greatest quarterback of all time.
Despite being in elite company,
Jackson is often pegged as not being a true quarterback.
It's an unfair label that's followed him since high school,
but Lamar has proved his doubters wrong at every step.
I mean, forever being linked with the GOAT ain't half bad.
But Lamar's journey to get the proper recognition
he deserves hasn't been easy.
He was once a guy overlooked by major college programs,
told to switch positions, and someone
that critics thought wouldn't survive in the NFL.
Let's meet these versions of Lamar Jackson in the Prism.
Lamar Jackson never got to enjoy his dream
of being a quarterback without someone waking him up,
shouting, "Hey, how about you try something else?"
High school coaches thought it over,
colleges pushed for it, and the pros, (scoffing)
they wanted him to start over at the highest level.
But every time, these desires overlooked
what the QB accomplished on the field.
At Boynton Beach High School in South Florida,
Lamar operated in a spread offense,
cooking defenders with his elusive speed.
He displayed incredible playmaking abilities,
often making something out of nothing.
Still, major programs like UGA recruited Lamar
to play defense, a thought that the QB took as disrespect.
Those schools pretty much snitched on themselves.
They figured Lamar was skilled and smart enough
to switch to a completely new position,
but not enough to be developed
into what they felt a quarterback should be.
It took an unlikely character,
Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino
to offer Lamar not just the chance he deserved,
but the space to actually grow.
Throughout his coaching history,
Petrino wasn't known for dealing with running QBs,
typically executing a pro style offense.
Petrino's offensive philosophy enticed Lamar.
He didn't want to be seen as a dual threat QB
and desired to hang in the pocket,
and in Petrino's eyes, that was the plan.
So much so that he swore to Felicia Jones,
Lamar's mom, that her baby boy would not only be
a quarterback, but have a shot to hit the field ASAP.
Now, ol Bobby wasn't a man of his word,
and put Lamar at punt returner for a practice.
But no worries, Ms. Jones heard all about it.
So the Louisville coaches heard about it,
and that lil experiment got put to bed quickly.
While moms laid down the law behind the scenes,
Lamar let his talent speak for itself.
During a practice session, Lamar cleanly dusted
the entire defense for a tuddy,
and the Cardinals coaching staff immediately knew
they had a special talent on their hands.
The staff realized Lamar had uncoachable skills,
but also spotted the areas they needed to clean up.
But where others saw weaknesses in his game,
and thought the only answer was a position change,
that first year at Louisville gave
Lamar time to start developing correctly.
In high school, Jackson didn't use a playbook,
mainly free styling calls from his head coach.
At Louisville, his introduction to the offense doubled
as a language elective as he tried to decipher the playbook.
It was a massive learning curve.
And to add to the playbook issues, there were other aspects
of the Cardinals' offense that Lamar hadn't been exposed to,
but they went all gas, no breaks
as Lamar's Freshman season was
essentially a crash course at quarterback.
He showed some flashes when he saw playing time late
in the season, which included a massive comeback
against in-state rival Kentucky.
Then an even bigger performance in the Music City Bowl.
But both he and Petrino knew there was
still plenty of room for improvement.
While he did make defenders look foolish,
Jackson admitted some of his jaw-dropping runs came
from not going through his progressions.
Petrino viewed that as instinctual.
If I saw a 300 pounder coming to rip my head off,
I would try to get out of the way as well.
But Petrino wanted Lamar to learn how to hang
in the pocket and deliver strikes downfield.
And in order to do that, Petrino took
Lamar's legs away during practice to force the issue.
Not to make Petrino out to be some mob boss
who kneecapped Lamar every time he ran the ball,
but to emphasize passing, Petrino blew
plays dead anytime Lamar took off early.
Off the field, Lamar studied film of himself
to the point of exhaustion where he wasn't
even positive exactly what he was looking for.
The coaching staff wanted Jackson
to learn from his past mistakes,
and how to react against certain defensive coverages.
Going as far as strapping him up
with virtual reality goggles to reenact plays.
They hammered away at it nonstop
to strengthen his pocket awareness.
Jackson knew he could sauce up opponents in the open field,
but he was ready to show off his arm.
During the season, Lamar's passing improved
drastically from the previous year thanks
to Petrino trusting more in his star athlete.
The head coach implemented more read option plays
in his offense, giving Lamar the freedom to read defenses
and run up field on touch for breezy touchdowns.
With the threat of Lamar's legs,
opposing defenses would sag in to try and stop the run,
leaving Jackson to kill 'em over the top,
dropping deep dimes with the flick of his wrist.
The result, Lamar's legendary sophomore season ended
with him hoisting the Heisman trophy in a landslide win.
It's not like they hand that award out to just anyone.
If Lamar for whatever reason decided
to end his college career there,
he would've been a part of a notable group enshrined
in college football history, but he wanted more.
After such an incredible year,
the NFL began to look like a real possibility for Jackson,
but his head coach knew more work needed to be done.
Petrino believed Lamar had reached a point
where he could rely less on his legs
and expanded the offense with the mission
for Lamar to grow as a passer.
Basically, year three was spent putting
the total package together.
The team worked Lamar under center a ton,
focusing heavily on his drop back passing game
while also spending time sharpening his mechanics.
The goal was to shape Lamar into a confident decision maker
and allow him the control to switch things up at the line.
Jackson showed immense strides
in reading defenses and displaying his arm talent.
With the Heisman under his belt,
new knowledge of the game, and reworked mechanics,
Lamar declared for the draft.
While no other QB prospect came close
to matching his running talent,
scouts placed more value on the passing game.
Teams were concerned about Lamar's accuracy issues,
and the number of sacks he took in college.
He wasn't viewed as the prototypical quarterback,
and noteworthy figures like former Colts' general manager,
Bill Polian called for him to move to receiver.
With Lamar, Polian saw a dude who didn't have
the right build and whose passing skills were way off
in comparison to the rest of the crop.
He believed Lamar was a tremendous athlete
with talent better suited to play out wide.
Highly skilled black quarterbacks have often been
told to switch positions to have
a better shot at making the league.
But yeah, let's go with accuracy issues.
Lamar couldn't block out the noise about the possibility
of making a change, but he never wavered.
Quarterback or nothing was his mindset
and he strayed away from giving teams
even the slightest of crumbs to test him.
During the NFL combine and his pro day,
Lamar strictly did quarterback driven drills.
In Lamar's eyes, showing how fast he was wasn't necessary
for evaluating a QB. He set out
to prove himself as a passer.
But beyond throwing concerns, franchises allegedly weren't
thrilled about how Lamar handled
the business side of the game.
He entered the draft process without an agent,
using his mom as his manager.
It's a rare approach and organizations feared
that his mom had too much power to influence his decisions.
Lamar's mom was reportedly extremely private,
and multiple teams directly said they found it
difficult to even get in touch with her son.
Lamar and his mom didn't play ball to the NFL's liking,
and come draft time, it showed.
Lamar ended up as the fifth quarterback selected
as the Ravens traded up into the first round,
snagging him with the 32nd pick.
In evaluating Lamar, head coach John Harbaugh saw him
as a quarterback and nothing else.
He spoke highly of the magic Lamar could pull off
with the ball in his hands, but urged patience.
The team prepared to roll with Joe Flacco
as the starter while allowing Lamar the room to develop.
Except, with Flacco sidelined midway through the season
with a hip injury, Jackson got flung
into action earlier than expected.
Lamar was set to take over a middling Ravens squad,
and in his debut, he lit up the Bengals
on the ground en route to earning his first career win.
He brought a new level of excitement to the field,
but journalists pointed to his issues as a passer,
and believed Flacco should be the starter when healthy.
As the Ravens kept getting dubs and secured
a postseason spot with Lamar under center,
that belief quickly changed.
He entered the postseason as the youngest quarterback
to start a playoff game, but by the end of regulation,
there wasn't much celebrating to be done.
The Ravens fell at home behind a lackluster performance
from Lamar, leading journalists to rehash
their concerns about his passing problems,
and whether he could succeed in the NFL.
The doubts around Lamar's future grew louder,
but he didn't shy away from the criticism.
During the 2019 off season, Lamar acknowledged
he had some trash performances throwing the ball,
but wanted to use his haters as fuel.
While media members were still uncertain of Lamar,
the Ravens were prepared to go all in for him.
Baltimore put in a new offensive scheme
to better fit Lamar's strengths,
signaling their belief in him
as their future franchise quarterback.
Tailoring a system around Lamar worked wonders
on lower levels, but journalists were
skeptical it could work in the pros.
Once the season kicked off,
it didn't take long for Lamar to spoon-feed
the doubtful media members their words.
In week one, Lamar torched the Dolphins
with a nearly perfect performance through the air.
After the game, Lamar didn't mince his words,
and fired back at journalists exclaiming
that his performance wasn't too shabby for a running back.
Talking is one thing, but Lamar backed it up,
dragging opponents with his arm and legs,
finishing the year off as the league's unanimous MVP.
Throughout all the doubts, Lamar earned one
of the NFL's greatest personal achievements
at a position that people said he couldn't play.
From there, he's managed to rack up more astonishing numbers
that have landed him next to the top quarterbacks
of today's game and the past.
It's a remarkable journey, and despite all the success,
Lamar is somehow still held to a different standard.
From the jump, a ton of Lamar's criticism was
baked in racism.
The cause for him to switch positions echoed
the ugliness of how talented black QBs have
historically been treated in comparison
to their white counterparts.
Some media members weren't even shy
in their flat out racist assessment of Lamar.
Following a 2019 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers,
a Bay Area radio host mentioned that Lamar had
an unfair advantage running the ball
because the ball matched his dark skin.
It's bullshit analysis and something that sadly took
shape off the field in dealing with his mom as well.
Yeah, it's typical for teams to deal
with the Drew Rosenhaus's of the world,
but God forbid a parent tries to look out
for their child's best interest
while securing a life-changing contract.
From the people that have known Lamar the best,
they speak highly of his mom for holding her son accountable
as they successfully completed his mission of becoming
a starting quarterback in college and the NFL.
Critics love pointing to the eye test
when it comes to Lamar's game, completely disregarding
the stats that he's put up, proving he's currently one
of the top pocket passers in the league.
Not only has he proved himself at the position,
but he's helped transform
what the modern day quarterback looks like.
Whether he's torching teams on the ground
or through the air, for a guy that's been
written off numerous times, and told he needs
to switch positions, there is no denying
Lamar Jackson is a bonafide QB and nothing else.
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