There’s no shortage of traits that make Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson one of the best players in the NFL today, with his elusiveness being very high on that list.
Shockingly, the quarterback with the most rushing yards in NFL history is pretty hard to bring down. With his nearly unmatched speed and agility at his position, Jackson is simply a nightmare to catch in space for many defenders.
Don’t just take our word for it, though. Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, a three-time All-Pro and reigning Defensive Player of the Year, said himself that Jackson is the hardest quarterback to sack ahead of Saturday’s matchup in Baltimore.
“Absolutely. It’s not even close,” Garrett told reporters Thursday. “There are definitely some other special cats at the quarterback position who are shifty. I mean, Pat (Patrick Mahomes) himself, he has great contact balance, but, I mean, Lamar has that. But he also has speed, he has quickness, is shifty, so he has that tremendous running ability, and he can also throw the ball pretty much anyone on the field right now.”
Even with how hard Jackson is to bring down, Garrett still has 5.5 sacks against him in his career. Part of that is due to playing against him so often as division rivals, but even so, that’s nothing to scoff at.
Many defenses have tried to take Jackson out of the game, but very few have succeeded. Garrett knows it’s not simple at all to contain the two-time MVP.
“Completely? Hell, no. The man’s amazing,” Garrett said. “A couple years back, you would say, ‘Try to keep him in the pocket.’ I think even beginning of the season we were like, ‘Try to keep him in pocket, make him throw as much as possible,’ and now you’re like, ‘[crap], we don’t know what to do.’ He’s been steadily growing year after year. He lost that baby weight. Now he’s back to being lean and fast as hell. So now, whether he breaks the pocket or he stays in the pocket, you’re going to have a rough day because he can do everything.”
Garrett currently has 14 sacks this season, tied with Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals for the most in the league. That’s not his main focus heading into this game, however.
“I mean, I’d rather upset them and mess up their playoff hopes,” Garrett said. “And if the sack title comes along with that, great. Definitely going to do what I can to be disruptive and take eight (Lamar Jackson) out of the game as much as possible. If that comes along with it, outstanding. But at the end of the day, I want to win.”