Another day, another half-baked statement made about Lamar Jackson

Another day has passed which means another irrelevant media member has taken a shot at Lamar Jackson.

When there is a void for sports like there is both domestically and internationally happening right now, things that normally wouldn’t be news becomes news since there is literally nothing else to talk about. Anyone and everyone wants to say the thing that’s going to blow up across social media, and when Lamar Jackson’s name is involved it typically maximizes that reach tenfold.

We’ve heard Bill Polian, Colid Cowherd, Booger McFarland, Clay Travis, and a number of other prominent members of the sports media and profession projectile vomit their worst takes on the Baltimore Ravens and former Louisville football quarterback Lamar Jackson. “He’s a running back.” “He can’t play quarterback.” “He’s not smart enough to learn a playbook.” “His style can’t last.” Those are all takes that have been spoken out loud by people who get paid to talk sports, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The latest erroneous claim from an NFL media member comes from one of the most irrelevant football players of my lifetime, Brady Poppinga. Most people probably won’t be familiar enough with that name to know that he played several years at linebacker in the NFL before silently moving into a career in the media working for FOX Sports.

With the NFL being the only sports league with a constant news cycle, thanks to free agency and the kickoff of the offseason and new CBA, and it gave Poppinga a platform to spill one of the worst comparisons I’ve ever heard.

"“Lamar Jackson is the poor-man’s Taysom Hill. It’s not the other way around. That’s what we have in TAysom. That’s why the Saints aren’t messing around. He eventually will be taken care of.”"

Taysom Hill has recently become a fad across the NFL as he’s played a unique “utility knife” type role for the New Orleans Saints, playing behind Drew Brees and Teddy Bridgewater. We’ve seen the former BYU quarterback line up at QB, RB, FB, WR, TE, and even on special teams during his short career and has made a fairly large impact on the organization’s ability to get creative.

However, he’s not even a starting quarterback. Through 37 career games, Hill has thrown a total of 13 passes – completing only six – for a total of 119 yards, one interception, and a whopping zero touchdowns. His strengths have mostly been utilized on the receiving and rushing side of things as he’s combined for 590 total yards of offense and 9 touchdowns.

Playing in one less season than Hill, Jackson has combined to complete 364 out of his 571 pass attempts for a total of 4,328 passing yards, 42 touchdowns and just nine interceptions. As a rusher, he’s carried the ball 323 times for 1,9001 yards and 12 touchdowns (the most in the same period of time by a landslide).

Comparing Taysom Hill to Lamar Jackson is unfathomable for anyone who is able to watch sports. There’s a reason one is an MVP winning quarterback and the other is a backup who is still on the free-agent market.

The comparison is laughable. It’s so bad it’s like:

• Comparing PBR to craft beer
• Comparing KFC to Indi’s (Courtesy of multiple people… To be honest, I’ve never  had Indi’s but I hear about it NONSTOP)
• Comparing sheep to goats (This is actually a fairly accurate comparison of Brady Poppinga’s comments)
• Comparing a random twitter user with conspiracy theories about COVID to a seasoned medical professional with a storied history in epidemiology (Courtesy of @webbslinger01)
• Comparing Rupp Arena to the KFC Yum! Center
• Comparing Dasani to Louisville tap water (Courtesy of @KyleBerg1999)
• Comparing Lynn Bowden to Lamar Jackson (Wait, how’d this get here?)
• Comparing a back-up quarterback with only six completions and no touchdowns to a Heisman Trophy and NFL MVP winner …. oh wait?

You get the point.

At this point, most of Louisville football and Lamar Jackson diehards have gotten used to the crap that commentators spew. Sure he doesn’t play like any quarterback in NFL history, but to continue to dog him for what he should be, compared to what he is, is beyond disciple.

People like Poppinga will continue to make bad takes about Jackson for 15-seconds of fame, and if I know anything about Jackson, he’ll continue to force those people to shove their feet in their mouths backtracking what they said in order to look like they knew what was right all along.

Haters gon’ hate.