What does Lamar Jackson’s weight loss mean for the Ravens? | The exempt list

Yahoo Sports NFL Writer Charles McDonald is joined by The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz to discuss the NFL MVP who lost 25 pounds this offseason and what that could mean for his approach to the 2024 season. Listen to the conversation full story about “The Exempt List with Charles McDonald” – part of the “Zero Blitz” podcast – and subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

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Video transcript

Lamar Jackson, the reigning NFL MVP, according to Diana Russini, is 205 now, 25 below where he was last year.

Um, why, I don’t know why Lamar Jackson has to get faster?

Like you have a lot of speed, just keep going, stay healthy.

Well, because even at 230 last year, even when I remember watching Lamar at Louisville, it’s like, yeah, he’s fast, but he’s not the fastest player in the NFL.

You know, the value comes from him being able to make people make mistakes and then accelerate it from there.

Um, and even at 230 it’s not like that was a problem for him last season, you know, maybe he’s not, um, maybe he’s not putting up the same rushing stats.

He was like he was during his 2019 MVP season, but he’s still one of the most fearful players with the ball in his hands when he starts moving down the field.

So to get to 205, I was like, man, that’s really small.

I wonder what this means.

Like, I wonder what that means for the offense, I, I think there’s some sign there that they drafted Devin Leary late in the third round that went against how they acquired their backups for Lamar.

It was always like, oh, we want someone like Lamar and then bringing him in, we want someone the opposite of Lamar because Leary is nothing like that.

So I wonder if this is a sign that maybe we’re not going to lean on the quarterback running game as much going forward, which I would like as a Lamar fan, I’d be happy to see that because I think he’s a talented quarterback o enough to, you know, still be a top quarterback without that part of his game, like being a major part of his game.

So maybe that’s what it’s all about and they don’t want him to get the punishment because he just won’t be in danger.

If that’s the case, then I’m all for it.

But if they’re going to continue to call plays the same way, I’d rather have, uh, Lamar with some armor on his body.

Right.

And I also think it’s good for them, for him to stay in the 230 area, because that offensive vibe is going through a little bit of a transition this year.

You know, Morgan Moses is with the Jets.

You probably have a rookie starting at right tackle in Rosengard, who was drafted from uh Washington, you lost John Simpson to the Jets.

So there will be some movement inside.

And also Ronnie Stanley is still kind of a TBD in terms of if he ever goes back to the pre-meters and Achilles rips version of himself because Ronnie is interesting, like he has flare-ups for maybe five games in a row where he’s like, Oh, there he is, there’s old Ronnie, but it’s still hard for him to put it all together.

So no, I think of Lamar as what on paper could be a Patrick offensive lineman.

You better go back to that coffee shop.

Maybe it’s more faith than we have.

But, yes, they have Ben Cleveland starting now.

They basically have a rookie starting at left guard as well and a true rookie starting at right guard.

Yes, it will, it may, it may be difficult at first.

I really think this will help them later on, because one thing that was kind of hidden about this team was how weak the offensive line was at the end of the year when they played the Chiefs.

I think we were both at that game.

I asked Dr. Tranquil in the, uh, locker room, like, because a big point of discussion was how they didn’t run the ball anymore.

The Ravens and he said, well, I just didn’t have anything at the point of attack.

Like, they tried to take us down and we pushed them back and that’s why they couldn’t run the football.

So I think getting a good offensive line will allow them to call a more diverse game and maybe not fall on Lamar like they did last year in the playoffs.

Yes.

So we’ll see how the 205 goes.

Honestly, man, these guys can change their bodies really fast.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Lamar is like, by the time August rolls around, he’s like 220 years old.

Yeah, I don’t know, because I remember last year when I went to Ravens camp, I did a story on their offense and Odell did it, it was one of the first days that Odell was talking to the media as a Raven and he said, you know, it’s a slow acceleration in terms of how you peak.

So he said, I want to be at my peak in week 10, not week two.

So perhaps this is a period of acceleration for Lamar.

But, you know, some of these guys actually physically exist on a different plane.

So Lamar is one of those guys who could probably get to 220 by August and be totally fine and not have any problems with it.

But, you know, at the end of May 2005.

I think that’s an interesting point to talk about for a second.

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