Is Lamar Jackson no longer even a top 10 quarterback in the NFL?
According to at least one respondent in ESPN’s annual quarterback survey of executives, coaches, and scouts, the answer is no. Fox Sports Radio host Colin Cowherd agrees.
“I no longer trust Lamar Jackson in a big spot. I’m selling my stock… I’d take Bo Nix today in a fourth-quarter, come-from-behind situation over Lamar,” Cowherd said Tuesday.
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Cowherd then ranked his top 10 quarterbacks:
- Josh Allen (Bills)
- Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
- Caleb Williams (Bears)
- Matthew Stafford (Rams)
- Justin Herbert (Chargers)
- Joe Burrow (Bengals)
- Sam Darnold (Seahawks)
- Jared Goff (Lions)
- Jordan Love (Packers)
- Drake Maye (Patriots)
On the surface, leaving Jackson outside the top 10 sounds like a form of rage-bait.
While arguments that Jackson was on the same level as Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes often felt more like culture-war debates than football analysis, Jackson has been one of the league’s premier quarterbacks over the past seven seasons. He won two league MVP awards during that span.
Given his previous regular-season dominance, Jackson’s MVP odds this year are rightfully higher than most of the quarterbacks Cowherd ranked ahead of him.
That said, there is a valid counterargument. Though Jackson’s ceiling remains among the highest in football, his floor may no longer be.
For one, he was not one of the 10 best quarterbacks last season.
In 13 starts, Jackson averaged just 196.1 passing yards per game, fewer than Michael Penix Jr. and Geno Smith. Projected over 17 games, his 21 touchdown passes would have been roughly league average. He also wasn’t the same rushing threat, finishing with just 349 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
By virtually every measure, Jackson was far less dynamic than he had been for most of his career.
Perhaps injuries played a role. Maybe he was never fully healthy. If so, he could certainly return to MVP form this season.
It’s also possible that his decline came sooner than expected. That wouldn’t be unprecedented. Russell Wilson went from one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks to an average starter in one offseason. Cam Newton experienced a similarly steep drop-off.
Quarterbacks who rely heavily on athleticism often age less gracefully than those who primarily win from the pocket. Jackson is an accurate passer, but his unparalleled running ability has always been central to what makes him special.
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Plus, legitimate questions remain even if Jackson returns to form in the regular season.
As Cowherd noted, Jackson has consistently fallen short in the biggest moments. Despite his regular-season success, his postseason résumé is underwhelming. He is 3-5 in the playoffs with a 60.6% completion rate, a 10-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and an 84.6 passer rating.
Those numbers lend support to Cowherd’s claim that he would trust Bo Nix over Jackson in a fourth-quarter comeback situation. In one playoff game last season against the Bills, Nix showed more big-game clutch ability than Jackson ever has.
If that’s one’s primary standard for evaluating quarterbacks — how they perform in the biggest moments — then leaving Jackson outside the top 10 becomes a defensible position.
It’s also reasonable to identify 10 quarterbacks entering the 2026 season with fewer unanswered questions.
We don’t know whether Jackson is fully healthy, whether his athleticism has begun to decline, how he will adapt under a new coaching staff, or how committed he is to football long term. Nearly every offseason brings reports questioning his dedication to the game or his happiness in Baltimore.
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Those concerns don’t exist to the same degree for many of the league’s other top quarterbacks. Mahomes, Allen, Stafford, Burrow, Maye and Caleb Williams all enter the season as safer projections than Jackson. The debate is how he compares to quarterbacks such as Jordan Love, Jared Goff, Jayden Daniels and Sam Darnold.
Put simply, it’s fair to ask whether Lamar Jackson is still a top-10 quarterback. And until he delivers in the biggest moments, such questions will remain valid.
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