John Harbaugh opens Ravens camp with defense of Lamar Jackson - ESPN

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh capped his team's first practice of training camp Sunday with an impassioned defense of quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Asked about the criticism directed at the NFL's reigning Most Valuable Player for not reaching the Super Bowl, Harbaugh delivered a stirring two-minute, 43-second response.

«There's a lot of great things said about Lamar, but there's a lot of stuff that's said that you just got to scratch your head about and kind of wonder, 'What's that person even thinking?'» Harbaugh said Sunday. «But we take it personally.»

In February, at the age of 27, Jackson became the youngest two-time NFL MVP since the AFL merger. Since 2018, he has the second-best regular-season record in the league at 58-19 (.753), leading Baltimore to the NFL's best records in 2019 (14-2) and 2023 (13-4).

But Jackson has struggled in the postseason, losing four of his six playoff games. In last season's 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, Jackson completed 54% of his passes (20-of-37) and committed two turnovers.

«All his life, Lamar Jackson has been a guy who's been answering those same questions,» Harbaugh said. «I'm talking about since he was a kid. Junior high, high school, college, the draft. The success he's had in the [NFL], again, it still comes up.

»OK, now he's still growing. He's got a growth mindset. He's going to get better and better, no doubt. But what does he have to do to prove himself to some people? Right?"

Since being selected with the last pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft, Jackson has become the best dual-threat quarterback in NFL history. He has run for more yards than any quarterback in his first six seasons (5,258) and has