April 27 (UPI) — Lamar Jackson made his lofty goal known immediately after being taken in the 2018 NFL Draft: He’s winning a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens.
The former Louisville quarterback went to the Ravens with the No. 32 overall pick Thursday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Baltimore struck a deal with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to make the pick possible. The Ravens sent the Eagles their second-round pick, fourth-round pick and a 2019 second-round pick in exchange for the Eagles’ first-round pick and fourth-round selection.
After Roger Goodell called Jackson’s name on the stage, Jackson made his proclamation.
“They’re gonna get a Super Bowl out of me,” he told Pro Football Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders. “Believe that.”
Jackson, 21, was the 2016 Heisman Trophy winner, but he’ll step into a quarterbacks room and sit next to a man with some more hardware. Incumbent starter Joe Flacco is a Super Bowl champion and has held the Ravens’ starting gig since he was selected with the No. 18 overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. He has missed just six games during his 10-year pro football tenure.
The Ravens also added another Heisman Trophy winner to their group of gunslingers this offseason, signing 2011 honoree Robert Griffin III on April 4.
“The big thing is that he’s a quarterback,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of Jackson in a news conference after the first round. “That’s the first thing to remember. That he’s a quarterback through and through and he’s a playmaker. When you look at stats, and you evaluate them, he does all the things that any quarterback does. But you do some analytics and the ball is in his hands … there hasn’t been a better playmaker really in the last few years coming out.”
“So, he’s a great quarterback, start with that. But Joe Flacco is our quarterback, that’s the thing we’ve got to remember. Lamar is going to have a great chance to develop. I think you get to this stage of a quarterback’s career and you’ve seen it done in New England, we’ve seen it done in a lot of places. It’s time to start thinking about drafting a quarterback. The opportunity came to get a really good one, I think you ought to jump on it and take it, so it really doesn’t change things in the sense that, you know we are going to go with Joe and Joe is gonna role and I can’t wait for the season to start. But when you’ve got a talented player like this, who can come in and play if he needs to and win for us, that’s a big plus.”
Jackson enters the Ravens fold with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and senior offensive assistant and assistant head coach Greg Roman on his new sideline. Mornhinweg worked with Michael Vick from 2009 through 2012, when he held the same role with the Philadelphia Eagles. He also worked with Steve Young and Jeff Garcia during an earlier tenure as offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers.
Roman was the offensive coordinator for the 49ers when Colin Kaepernick was at the helm in 2012. He helped the team reach the Super Bowl with the gunslinger.
“Y’all are gonna get a lot of wins,” Jackson told the Ravens’ website. “I’m coming.”
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