The quarterback position has primarily made those who throw the ball past their offensive lines thrive. It is very seldom that a star would come out of the signal-caller spot by being an elite rusher first but Lamar Jackson has been the exception to most football conventions anyway. How did he get into Louisville and cement himself as one of the Baltimore Ravens legends? Let’s all learn his story in this article.

Sharpening his skills in Florida

Much like many stars in the football world, Lamar Jackson’s early stomping grounds were located near Pompano Beach. Born to Felicia Jones and Lamar Jackson Sr., he was birthed into life on the seventh of January in 1997. He and his father had a great relationship as they bonded over football. In fact, it is rumored that his first 20-yard throw happened when he was just eight years old. However, just months later, his dad and grandmother died on the same day.

Felicia then had to raise Lamar alongside her three other children as a single parent. With all the cash that she could muster up, she sent all her kids to school as the young legend even played for Santaluces and Boynton Beach Community High School. This is where his greatness began to show. When he got to play in those last two years of high school, it was absolute cinema. He notched a total of 2,263 passing yards alongside 31 touchdowns on just nine interceptions. His rushing? Well, one would think that he was a running back because he got 1,624 rushing yards and 22 runs to the end zone for six points.

These numbers added up to Lamar getting honored with the Lou Groza Palm Beach High School Player of the Year award back in 2014. But, there was a lot of uncertainty about his ability to sustain stardom in college. This led to a dispute among many sites. When ESPN had him as a three-star recruit, Rivals rated Lamar as a four-star. Obviously, this impacted the offers he got but Clemson, Louisville, Florida, and Auburn were all fighting over him despite the shaky rating.

Choosing to play for Bobby Petrino

As history would have it, Lamar ended up choosing to play for the Louisville Cardinals. He spent all of his college journey there and it brought life to this squad. Coach Petrino immediately saw his talents and got him to start in eight out of 12 games. This momentum in progressing his talents got him to the MVP of the Music City Bowl as he notched a bowl record of 226 yards with two touchdowns.

His career only went upward after a big freshman season. In his second year with Louisville, accolades only started to pile up. He led the Cardinals to nine wins in 13 games. Lamar’s numbers were also unreal for a sophomore quarterback. 3,534 passing yards on only nine interceptions and 1,571 rushing yards on 260 carries came out of this man while he was just 19 years old. Not to mention, he was the beating heart of their scoring as he recorded 21 rushing touchdowns and 31 passing touchdowns. This made him the youngest Heisman Trophy winner ever over impressive candidates Baker Mayfield, Jabrill Peppers, Deshaun Watson, and Dede Westbrook.

The story of his final season had the same beat as the second year. However, the outcome was not quite the same. Louisville finished the season with only eight wins in 13 games. Lamar’s numbers went up as he notched 3,660 passing yards with 27 passing touchdowns while only committing 10 interceptions. His run game was also elite still with 1,601 rushing yards on 232 carries and 18 touchdowns. All of this would have gotten him another Heisman Trophy but Baker Mayfield and Bryce Love were just better. Nonetheless,  another impressive honor bestowed on him was the ACC Athlete of the Year award for all sports.

His NFL career so far

It was very clear that Lamar had a cannon of an arm but also rockets for legs. However, a lot of scouts did not trust him to be a quarterback. They were instead urging him to be a wide receiver or running back but there was one team that gambled on him. In the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens picked him with the 32nd overall pick. This was a shocking surprise because the Heisman winner ended up being the fifth signal caller taken. Guys like Baker Mayfield, Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, and Josh Allen were picked before his name was called.

Furthermore, Lamar could have gone lower as the Ravens needed to trade up for that 32nd pick with the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite all of the pre-draft drama, John Harbaugh knew that they had the steal of that year’s selection. The head honcho would be proven right after Lamar learned from being Joe Flacco’s backup.

His first outing? The Ravens blew out the Buffalo Bills with an insane 47-3 scoreline. Greatness only started snowballing from there. As of the moment, he is in the seventh year of his career but has not come close to winning the Super Bowl. It is largely because he had to face great dynasties like that of the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers alongside Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs.

Despite the postseason being the bane of his long career, Lamar has managed to take home other major awards. He became one of only four African-American players to win the Most Valuable Player Award in 2019. If that was not enough, he notched the award again during the 2023 season and boasts three games with a perfect passer rating.

There is still a lot of games left in Lamar’s career but he has already accomplished a lot. His career totals are already extremely high as he has 17,093 passing yards and 5,566 rushing yards with 161 total touchdowns. Three Pro Bowl selections and two All-Pro selections all but boost his chances of making the Pro Football Hall of Fame too.

Lamar Jackson's Net Worth

Lamar knows the value of money because of how hard he needs to work so that his family can get better opportunities. In 2023, he signed a five-year deal with the Ravens that made him the highest-paid player of all time at the moment of signing because the figures clocked in at around $260 million.

Moreover, he has also been the face of brands like Oakley, Play Action Soulfood, and NFL Pro VR. Investments in real estate with all of these big numbers combined make his net worth about $60 million. Those numbers are going to grow in direct proportion to his postseason success too which means he could very well be valued above $100 million by the time he hangs the cleats up.