Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson May Shatter Michael Vick's Single-Season Quarterback Rushing Record

At the 2018 NFL draft combine, speculation arose that several franchises viewed Lamar Jackson as a wide receiver. It didn't matter that Jackson had never played the position. He was, in fact, a quarterback who had recently completed a sensational college career at the University of Louisville, where he won the 2016 Heisman Trophy as a sophomore and finished third in the balloting a year later. During each of those seasons, Jackson threw for at least 3,000 yards and ran for at least 1,500 yards.

Still, some teams had questions about Jackson's accuracy as a thrower and thought they could utilize his speed and teach him how to become a receiver. Jackson, naturally, didn't take too kindly to the suggestion.

"(There are) a lot of quarterbacks who had my ability to make people miss," Jackson told the NFL Network at the time. "But they never labeled them as a wide receiver, so I feel I should have a chance at quarterback."

The Baltimore Ravens gave him that shot when they selected him with the final first round pick of last year's draft. And they have been justly rewarded.

Now in his second season, Jackson, 22, is among the most promising young quarterbacks in the league for a team that could contend for the Super Bowl. Baltimore is 5-2 and atop the AFC North, a division whose other three teams are the Cleveland Browns (2-4), Pittsburgh Steelers (2-4) and Cincinnati Bengals (0-7).

Jackson is first in the league with 6.9 yards per rushing attempt, tied with Minnesota Vikings' running back Dalvin Cook for first with six runs of 20 yards or more and sixth with 576 rushing yards.

If Jackson keeps it up, he will break Michael Vick's record for most rushing yards in a season for a quarterback in NFL history, which Vick set in 2006 when he gained 1,039 yards for the Atlanta Falcons. Jackson is on pace to run for 1,317 yards.

On Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, Jackson threw for 143 yards and ran for 116 yards, his third so-called "double triple" this year and fourth of his career, tied for the second-most in NFL history, according to Pro Football Talk. Vick is the leader with eight such games, which are defined as having at least 100 yards in two of the following categories: passing, running or receiving.

So far this year, Jackson is looking more comfortable as a passer, too, although he didn't throw for a touchdown in the past two games and completed just 9 of 20 passes against Seattle. Still, he is completing 63.3% of his attempts, up from 58.2% last year, and his yards per attempt (7.7 vs. 7.1) and quarterback rating (70.9 vs. 46.3) have also improved from a year ago.

The Ravens have a bye this weekend and then return to action on Nov. 3 when they host the 7-0 New England Patriots in one of the most anticipated matchups of the season. The Patriots have arguably the best quarterback in NFL history in Tom Brady, who entered the NFL in 2000 when Jackson was three years old. And New England's defense has allowed an average of 6.9 points per game, the fewest in the league.

Still, the Patriots have not faced a challenge quite like trying to contain Jackson, who took over as Baltimore's starter last November when veteran Joe Flacco sustained a hip injury. Three months later, when the Ravens traded Flacco to the Denver Broncos for a fourth round draft pick, it signaled they were all in with Jackson. It's still early in his career and injuries can always occur, but it's looking like the Ravens' faith in Jackson as a quarterback will pay dividends for years to come.