"Defenses start to adjust" - Former NFL player expresses worry over Lamar Jackson’s future by drawing parallels to Cam Newton, Michael Vick's careers

Lamar Jackson's style of play has long been doubted by NFL pundits from a longevity standpoint because of those that came before the Baltimore Ravens quarterback with a similar skill set.

Emmanuel Acho, while speaking on the Speak for Yourself podcast, introduced the question of whether Jackson is an outlier dual-threat quarterback who won't go down the road of Cam Newton or Michael Vick:

"This is really the crux of the conversation, which I hope everybody listens to right here. And right now, if I am the Baltimore Ravens, I need to find out if Lamar Jackson is an outlier. What in the world do I mean? Robert Griffin, Cam Newton, Michael Vick, the dominant quarterbacks of our era with their legs and also with their arm, their arms dominated the league, but they had all of their major success collectively early."

Acho went on to point out that all of these signal-callers had success early in his career and speculated that defenses are starting to adjust to reading option-heavy quarterbacks:

"Michael Vick, conference championship game as far as he ever went in his fourth year. Robert Griffin, Wild Card round of the playoffs that's as far as his team ever witnessed first year, Cam Newton to the Super Bowl as far as his team ever went, but that was in his fifth year."

"I'm starting to wonder, okay, how come all of the quarterbacks that have a similar style of play to (Lamar) Jackson experienced their success so early? I think defenses start to adjust and or the quarterbacks lose a little bit off the fastball of their legs."

NFL Network analyst 'absolutely expects Lamar Jackson to be back in MVP form'

Jackson had a rough 2021 season, throwing just three more touchdowns than he did interceptions after dwarfing the latter's total with a significant number of the former in his first two seasons as the full-time starter.

NFL Network's Bucky Brooks said that he 'absolutely expects Jackson to be back in MVP form' during the 2022 campaign and beyond during an appearance on NFL Total Access:

"I absolutely expect (Lamar) Jackson to be back in MVP form. This offense is going back to the way it looked when Lamar Jackson was having his most success. More heavies on the field, meaning more tight ends, more big backs, because when you put the bigs on the field, the defense has to counter with more bigs. That gives (Lamar) Jackson a bigger advantage with his athleticism and speed."

The Ravens open up the season on September 11th on the road against the New York Jets. Starting then, we'll have a better idea of whether or not Jackson is already on the decline or if last year was an outlier for the 25-year-old.

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If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Speak For Yourself and H/T Sportskeeda.