Lamar Jackson’s name is generating headlines for the wrong reasons this offseason, and it has nothing to do with his play on the field. The two-time NFL MVP fell 67 spots on the NFL’s Top 100 Players of 2026 list, tumbling from No. 2 a year ago all the way down to No. 69. The drop sent shockwaves through Baltimore, and it didn’t take long for new Ravens head coach Jesse Minter to weigh in.
Minter saw the ranking and did what any coach protective of his quarterback would do. He texted Jackson directly. Minter later told “The Lounge” podcast that the exchange got interesting, though he kept the specifics private, according to the team’s official website.
“Look, there may not even be one other player in the league better than Lamar, let alone 68 players in the league better than Lamar,” Minter said, via NFL.com. “When you have one year where he dealt with a little bit of injury and the team missed the playoffs, certain players they hold onto that and certain players they give them the benefit of the doubt. This guy is a multi-MVP winner, has transcended the quarterback position.”
Why Jackson Fell So Far
The Top 100 list isn’t handed down by the league office. Players around the NFL vote on it during the previous season, and 2025 gave plenty of them reason to knock Jackson down a notch. He didn’t look like the quarterback who won back-to-back MVPs. A hamstring injury cost him games. A knee issue and a back contusion piled on, the latter forcing him out of Week 17 entirely. In between, he hit a stretch of three straight games without a passing touchdown — a drought that would have been unthinkable during his MVP runs.
Jackson tried to will his way back into the picture in Week 18, throwing three touchdowns in a win-and-in game against Pittsburgh. It wasn’t enough. The Ravens lost and missed the playoffs, closing the book on a season that never found its footing.
| Category | 2025 Season Stat |
|---|---|
| Passing Yards | 2,549 |
| Passing Touchdowns | 21 |
| Interceptions | 7 |
| Rushing Yards | 349 (career low) |
Those numbers, paired with a missed postseason, were enough for voting players to drop him behind quarterbacks like Trevor Lawrence (No. 62), Bo Nix (No. 59) and Jalen Hurts (No. 56) on the list, which continues rolling out new names throughout the summer.
Minter Reads It as Motivation, Not an Insult
Minter, stepping into his first season as an NFL head coach, isn’t treating the ranking as a crisis. If anything, he sounds like a coach who sees an edge in it.
“I know Lamar, I don’t think he worries about that,” Minter said. “I think he wants to win, I think he wants to win big. I think he wants to get back.”
That’s a notable dynamic to watch heading into training camp, where Jackson will be working under a new offensive coordinator in Declan Doyle for the first time. A new scheme, a healthy quarterback and a chip on his shoulder from a players’ vote that stung — Baltimore is hoping all three point in the same direction this fall.
Jackson has been here before, in a sense. He also sat at No. 2 heading into the 2024 season before claiming the top spot outright in 2020, the year of his first MVP award. History suggests a bounce-back season could send him right back up the list. For now, Minter made his stance on the record.
“There’s nobody we’d rather have as our quarterback,” Minter said.
