Lamar Jackson is walking into the 2026 season with a target on his back, and ESPN analyst Louis Riddick isn’t softening the message. Riddick says the Baltimore Ravens quarterback will absorb the blame first if the team’s problems from last season carry over, regardless of how new the coaching staff is.
Jackson has two MVP awards and four Pro Bowl trips on his résumé heading into his ninth year in the league. None of that has translated into a Super Bowl, and the Ravens are still trying to find their footing after a season that fell apart late.
Baltimore finished 8-9 in 2025, missing the playoffs after a 26-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers closed out the year. That result cost John Harbaugh his job, along with the rest of his coaching staff.
Riddick Says There’s No Cushion for Jackson in Baltimore
The Ravens didn’t waste time rebuilding. Jesse Minter takes over as head coach, with Declan Doyle running the offense and Anthony Weaver in charge of the defense. It’s a near-total reset of the coaching room, and it’s brought some genuine buzz back to the building.
Riddick isn’t convinced that changes who gets scrutinized if the losing continues. Speaking on First Take, he didn’t hedge:
“There is no grace period in Baltimore. And who’s going to be the person who all the attention is going to be focused on? It will be Lamar,” Riddick said, according to HITC.
Riddick’s reasoning is simple, and it’s the same logic that follows every starting quarterback in the league. The position draws the heat first, win or lose. He put it bluntly: it will be Jackson under the microscope “because it’s always him,” and because a quarterback’s game gets “picked apart from A to Z” when things go sideways.
That kind of scrutiny would touch nearly everything Jackson does on the field — his rushing numbers, his accuracy as a passer, and a durability question that followed him through last season.
Health and Availability Were Real Issues in 2025
Jackson missed three games last year with a hamstring injury and sat out another with a tailbone bruise. In the 13 games he did play, he was held without a passing or rushing touchdown four times — a stretch of inconsistency that mirrored the team’s overall late-season collapse. Baltimore’s playoff chances were officially gone once the Steelers loss closed the book on the regular season.
None of that has soured Jackson on the direction the franchise is heading. Back in May, he called Minter and the incoming staff “a breath of fresh air,” and people around the team say that energy has carried into training camp.
Jackson has reportedly built real chemistry with rookie wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane during camp, and tight end Mark Andrews has stood out as well. Teammates and coaches have also pointed to Jackson taking on more of a vocal leadership role this offseason — a shift that matters given how much responsibility is about to land on him once the season starts.
Why This Falls on Jackson, Fair or Not
Riddick’s take reflects a pattern that’s true across the NFL, not just in Baltimore. Front offices can rebuild a coaching staff and retool a scheme, but the quarterback remains the face of both the offense and the record. When a team with Jackson’s talent misses the playoffs, the questions default to the player under center — his health, his decision-making, his ability to close games.
If Minter’s staff clicks early and the Ravens get back into playoff contention, the pressure Riddick describes fades fast. A rough start, though, and Jackson becomes the first name reporters bring up — not the rookie coordinators, not the front office. That’s the reality Riddick is describing, and it’s on Jackson to prove it wrong once games start counting in September.
