Ravens coach John Harbaugh: Lamar Jackson can become the best quarterback in NFL history

Lamar Jackson missed the start of training camp because of an illness.

Then Baltimore coach John Harbaugh delivered a bit of a speech, talking up his star quarterback at the end of his session with reporters.

Following the Ravens' first full-squad practice of camp, Harbaugh spoke for more than two straight minutes about Jackson and the future — and in doing so made it quite clear what the team's hopes and expectations are.

"The vision that we have together is that Lamar Jackson is going to become and be known and be recognized as the greatest quarterback ever to play in the history of the National Football League," Harbaugh said. "That's the vision. It's going to happen by Lamar, his work ethic and his brilliant talent, by all of us pouring into that effort, together as a team, teamwork, and by the grace of God and God's goodwill. That's how it's going to happen. And I believe it like we've already seen it."

Moments earlier, Harbaugh had talked about some of the team's themes entering the 2024 season: vision, standards — and the ability to meet and raise the standard. The Ravens set the bar pretty high last season with a dominant regular season. Jackson won his second MVP award. But Baltimore lost in the AFC championship game to Kansas City, whose own quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, has put together an impressive résumé in the debate over the greatest quarterback of all time.

So Jackson still faces his share of critics.

"I read the stuff. I see the guys say what they say on the shows. At least I get clips of them because they come up on your phone," Harbaugh said. "There's a lot of great things said about Lamar, but there's a lot of stuff that's said that you got to just scratch your head about and kind of wonder, what's