Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr. born on January 7, 1997, is an American football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Louisville, where he won the Heisman Trophy during his sophomore year, and was selected by the Ravens as the final first-round pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. Jackson became the Ravens' starting quarterback in his rookie season after an injury to incumbent Joe Flacco. He clinched a division title with the team, also becoming the youngest NFL quarterback to start a playoff game at age 21.
The following year, Jackson set the season record for quarterback rushing yards and led the league in touchdown passes while bringing the Ravens to the top seed of the American Football Conference (AFC). For his success, he became the second unanimous Most Valuable Player (MVP) and the fourth African-American quarterback to win the award. Jackson followed up his MVP campaign by becoming the first quarterback to have multiple 1,000 yards rushing seasons and led the Ravens to a third consecutive playoff appearance.
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On January 5, 2018, Jackson announced that he would enter the 2018 NFL Draft. He declined to run drills such as the 40-yard dash during the NFL Scouting Combine, in order to focus on displaying his passing skills. Jackson reportedly clocked in a 4.34 40-yard dash time in 2017 at Louisville which would have been the fastest time in NFL history for a quarterback. Jackson was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round with the 32nd overall pick in the draft, after trading up for the selection with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was the fifth quarterback selected that year.
| Games Played | 61 |
| Completions | 908 |
| Passing Attempts | 1417 |
| Passing Yards | 10,716 |
On June 5, 2018, Jackson signed his rookie contract, reportedly worth $9.47 million with a $4.97 million signing bonus. He earned a guaranteed $1.3 million throughout the 2020 NFL season. Lamar Jackson has a total net worth of $4 million. The Baltimore Ravens quarterback does not have any charities of his own. However, he is active in philanthropic circles. In 2018, Jackson held autograph signings in Louisville, which received charitable donations of $29,000. Out of this, $25,000 was given to Blessings in a Backpack and the remaining went to Mission for Hope.
Jackson’s girlfriend is Jaime Taylor, and the pair have been dating since his college days at the University of Louisville. Jackson as well as Taylor likes to remain low-key about their relationship, away from the public eye, so that’s why one will notice that there is not much detailed information on her, or about their relationship. However, in an interview with the Baltimore Ravens, Taylor addressed how she’s learned to handle criticism when Jackson calmly tells her to not get mad when she reads stuff online or elsewhere. Jackson advises her to not take it to heart and keep doing what she’s doing.
Lamar Jackson in a file photo. (image credits: twitter/Lj_era8)
