Staff Reactions: Lamar Jackson wins 2023 NFL MVP

Beatdown gang reacts to the news of Lamar Jackson winning MVP,,, AGAIN!

For the second time in his illustrious career, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has won league MVP. Below are the reactions from the Beatdown staff.

Many questioned if he could return to his 2019 form. To being the best in the NFL ever again. After some slumping seasons and injury-riddled back-half stretches, Jackson returned with his new contract, new coordinator, new weapons and made a mockery of the regular season, buzz-sawing his way through some of the best teams in the NFL so viciously he and other Ravens starters sat in Week 18 due to achieving everything they wanted in the regular season.

Jackson now joins an 11-person list of multiple MVP winners, with all either being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, too early to induct as first-ballot hall of famers or still active. Jackson is in the third company, and will make it to the next in due time. Not before, though, he has so much more to accomplish.

The Ravens 2023 season wasn’t the end result they wanted, but they had one helluva season. Commendations to them and to Jackson, who wholly earned this second league MVP award. — Kyle Phoenix

Many will pointed to Jackson’s lack of gaudy passing statistics to negate or minimize his MVP candidacy this season. However, there’s little argument he wasn’t overwhelmingly deserving of his second career MVP award. Jackson’s value as the most important player on the league’s best team this regular season is unquestioned. He performed at a high level all year and elevated his game down the stretch against elite competition. In doing so, Jackson led the Ravens into clinching the No. 1 seed in the AFC and home field advantage in the playoffs. All in all, he was one of the most efficient passers and runners in the league and a clear choice for the award. — Frank Platko

The uneven performance that he and the team had their last time on the field should negate or overshadow what was an otherwise overwhelmingly dominant season by Jackson who took his game to another level that many doubted was possible after his previous MVP campaign. Unlike in year’s past, he didn’t put up record-breaking or league-leading totals outside of yards per rushing attempt but Jackson was still by far the most valuable player on his team and in the league because of all the one-of-kind highlight reel plays he came up with or helped create by being a true dual-threat in every sense of the term. He carved opposing defenses from the pocket, regularly extended plays with his legs to push the ball down field and get it into the hands of his playmakers rather than putting it all on himself. Even though the Ravens upgraded the weapons at his disposal this past season and gave him the best group of wide receivers that he has ever worked with, Jackson was the driving force and main catalyst for their success week in and week out. He played his best against the best through the divisional round of the playoffs, and shined brightest under the lights down a crucial and brutal stretch of the season. Jackson now enters elite company as not just a multi-time MVP winner he joins Patrick Mahomes as just the second African American quarterback to ever win the award more than once, a fitting way to open up Black History Month. — Joshua Reed

In predictable fashion, Lamar Jackson has secured his second MVP award. While the Ravens season didn’t end how Jackson or the team wanted, this is still an incredible feat that only ten other players in NFL history have accomplished. Even more remarkable is that Jackson is just 27 years old. Only Patrick Mahomes has won two MVPs before that age and while Mahomes’ playoff success trumps Jackson’s, it can’t be denied that the Ravens quarterback deserves to be in the conversation for the second best QB in the NFL. With his improvements in the passing game, setting career highs in passing yards and completion percentage, and better talent around him Jackson made great strides and should be in the MVP conversation for many years to come. — Stephen Bopst

It’s a bittersweet award. It’s almost hard to be satisfied with this MVP, as crazy as that sounds, when you know the player themselves isn’t satisfied. I’m sure Lamar Jackson will be grateful for the award. We also know he said multiple times this season that he didn’t care about the award and wanted a Super Bowl. So winning the award after losing the AFC Championship game isn’t going to sit right with him.

All that being said, it’s a well deserved award this season. There’s no team that asks more of their quarterback than the Baltimore Ravens. And Lamar Jackson has a frequent habit of delivering. People will argue the stats and debate Josh Allen or Dak Prescott. But at the end of the day, Jackson took a massive leap again with a new offensive coordinator and deliver the top seed in the AFC. — It’s a bittersweet award. It’s almost hard to be satisfied with this MVP, as crazy as that sounds, when you know the player themselves isn’t satisfied. I’m sure Lamar Jackson will be grateful for the award. We also know he said multiple times this season that he didn’t care about the award and wanted a Super Bowl. So winning the award after losing the AFC Championship game isn’t going to sit right with him.All that being said, it’s a well deserved award this season. There’s no team that asks more of their quarterback than the Baltimore Ravens. And Lamar Jackson has a frequent habit of delivering. People will argue the stats and debate Josh Allen or Dak Prescott. But at the end of the day, Jackson took a massive leap again with a new offensive coordinator and deliver the top seed in the AFC. — Zach Canter