Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes, who’s the best young QB in the NFL

Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes, who’s the NFL’s best young quarterback?

Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs are the new superstar quarterbacks. They have taken the NFL by storm by revolutionizing the quarterback position in ways that make defending against them almost impossible.

Many think Mahomes is the best, but they are wrong, It’s Jackson, and here’s why.

Jackson’s ability is dynamism on steroids because his skill set is the combination of being one of the fastest players in the NFL with a rocket arm.  Jackson has a speed rating of 96 on Madden 20 – a popular football video game and he has elusiveness that resembles Barry Sanders and that causes defenders to tackle ghosts.

His ability to dodge defenders dates back to his college career at the University of Louisville. In practice, a defensive back tried to tackle him and tore his ACL in the process because Jackson juked him to the ground.

Mahomes was the darling of the league last season, as sports commentators drooled over his performances and claimed he was the best talent the game has ever seen.

Mahomes threw for 5,097 yards and 50 touchdowns in 2018. He earned Most Valuable Player honors by leading the Kansas City Chiefs to the best record in the AFC in 2018. One week he would throw an 89-yard bomb for a touchdown and the next week throw a no-look pass that would set social media on fire. His ability to shred a defense with his rocket arm and generate explosive outcomes when the play breaks down is what makes him special.

Jackson’s running ability is what elevates his skill over Mahomes.  His run against the Cincinnati Bengals in week 10 put the league on notice. He split two defenders at the line of scrimmage, juked a safety, hit a spin move causing to defenders to tackle each other, and then sprinted for a touchdown causing the internet to proclaim it was one of the greatest runs ever.

We’ve never seen anything comparable to Jackson.

He’s on pace to become the first player in NFL history to throw for over 3,000 yards and rush for over 1,000. That gives defensive coordinators nightmares as they try to find a game plan to stop him. If they want to stack the box to stop the run, he’ll shred the secondary. If you don’t commit to stopping the run, he’ll turn the game into a track meet.

Last Thursday against the New York Jets, Jackson set a new single-season rushing yards record for a quarterback, reaching a total of 1,103 yards. He broke Michael Vick’s record that he set in 2006 when he rushed for 1,039 yards while playing for the Atlanta Falcons. And there were still two games left in the season.

With Jackson as quarterback, the Ravens are averaging more yards rushing each game than any team in more than 40 years. The Ravens’ rushing attack has reached historic levels by averaging 207 yards per game. Only eight teams in NFL history have rushed for over 200 yards per game and Baltimore would be the first since 1977. No team in the NFL has averaged 200 yards passing and 200 yards rushing, and Baltimore is on pace to be the first.

Jackson’s passing ability almost equals his special running capabilities.

He excels at throwing bullet passes down the middle of the field and has completed 66 percent of his passes. Jackson one of six quarterbacks to have at least three games in the same season with at least five touchdowns passes in a game, per Pro Football Reference. He ranks first in touchdown passes with 33. He has done that by throwing only 370 passes, which ranks 25th. By comparison, Jameis Winston of Tampa Bay leads the league in pass attempts with 544 but has three fewer touchdowns than Jackson.

Jackson’s mindboggling numbers have him as the leading candidate in the MVP race.

He leads the league in total touchdowns with 40 and the Ravens have the highest-scoring offense at 34 points per game, which is tied for the second-highest this decade, and they rank second in yards per game with 409.

Jackson’s impact has elevated the Ravens into first place in the AFC with the most wins in the NFL at 12-2. There are three 11-3 teams: San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. They have one thing in common: They all lost to the Jackson-led Ravens.

Jackson’s MVP play transforms the Ravens into a juggernaut as they’ve dominated the competition.

The Ravens’ average scoring margin is plus 15.4 which is the highest since 2007 when the New England Patriots’ average scoring margin was 17.5. The Mahomes-led Chiefs average scoring margin in his MVP season was only 8.7.

As exciting as he’s been, one of his collegiate teammates isn’t surprised in the least bit.

Drew Bailey, who played defensive line at the University of Louisville with Jackson, saw this ability every practice but believes Jackson’s leadership quality is his best attribute.

“What makes Lamar so great is his leadership. He makes the people around him want to play for him because of how hard he plays,” Bailey said in a phone interview. “Tom Brady is the G.O.A.T but Lamar is the MVP. Once Brady retires, the league is Lamar’s world.”

Not bad for a running back.