Lamar Jackson’s Injury Has Put the Ravens’ Season on Life Support

Nothing derails a Baltimore Ravens season faster than an injury to Lamar Jackson.

And the life-support badge has been placed on Baltimore’s season as the prospects of playing the rest of the way without the two-time NFL MVP quarterback could become reality in coming days.

Just as Jackson returned from a left ankle injury, he sustained a more serious one on his first play back and will soon undergo thumb surgery on his throwing hand.

Jackson will be placed on injured reserve and Ravens coach Jesse Minter had a somber answer when asked if the injury could end Jackson’s season.

“Potentially. We’ll see where it goes,” Minter said.

That would be a devastating development for the Ravens.

Jackson just missed 3 1/2 games with the ankle injury and Baltimore was excited to get him back for the showdown against the Buffalo Bills.

But on Baltimore’s first offensive play, Jackson dropped back to pass and threw the ball. His right hand collided with the wrist of Bills pass rusher Greg Rousseau and Jackson immediately knew there was a major problem.

He went over to the sideline to display that his thumb was out of place. Just like that, he was taken to the locker room and Baltimore’s chances of beating Buffalo went severely downhill.

And that’s kind of the deal. If Jackson’s not on the field, Baltimore’s chances of winning seem to fall off the cliff.

Jackson had a 79-32 record as a starter prior to Sunday’s one-snap day in the 36-10 loss. He’s vitally important to the Ravens.

Making matters worse against the Bills was that backup Tyler “Snoop” Huntley exited with a right toe injury early in the second quarter.

Somebody named Joe Fagnano was the emergency quarterback so this did rate as a major in-game crisis. The undrafted free agent made his NFL debut and played the rest of the game despite injuring his right foot and left knee during the second half.

Fagnano completed 10 of 21 passes for 91 yards, one interception and one lost fumble and Baltimore managed just 144 yards of total offense while losing its third straight game to fall to 4-4.

Nobody is blaming Fagnano, of course, who earned points for his competitiveness after probably not taking a single snap with the first-team offense all week.

But neither Fagnano nor practice squad quarterback Skylar Thompson nor anyone the Ravens sign off the street is the quarterback the Ravens would like to see on the field when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night.

Fagnano was hopeful his injuries will calm down before Thursday. Ohhh … good?

“We’ll figure out what we have available and we’ll try to put the best plan out there for that short week,” Minter said.

The reality is that everybody connected with the Ravens will be waiting for word on the prognosis that will come after Jackson undergoes the surgery.

Jackson will miss at least four games with the IR stint but if say the forecast is six to eight weeks, then Baltimore is in a major bind. That takes you into mid-December at a best case and after Christmas as a crushing scenario. The worst case would be no return this season.

If the Ravens can’t figure out how to win three to five games without Jackson, it could be a lost campaign if he’s cleared to return.

Jackson missed four games last season. He played in just 12 games in both 2021 and 2022. Now Jackson is surely going to play in less than half of the games this season.

Jackson turns 30 in January and is on the books for an $84.34 million cap hit next season. You can’t put together a valid roster with that figure so something is going to change.

Could Jackson be done in Baltimore? Possibly. He does have a no-trade clause as part of the five-year, $260 million extension he signed in April of 2023. Basically, it’s a situation that has to play out.

If Jackson stays, the Ravens would sure love to figure out a way to keep the face of the franchise on the field.

That’s because after Sunday, the Baltimore season is barely on the tracks entering Week 9.