Former Louisville QB Lamar Jackson Finishes Second in 2024 NFL MVP Voting

Despite putting up an MVP-caliber season, Lamar Jackson is not coming home with the hardware.

The winner of the 2024 Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player award was announced Thursday at the annual NFL Honors ceremony, and the former Louisville football star and current Baltimore Ravens quarterback finished as the runner-up in the voting.

Instead, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was named the winner. Jackson received 23 of the 50 first first place votes and finished with 362 points, while Allen received the other 27 first place votes and had 383 points.

Allen is the the first player to win the NFL MVP without being named First-Team All-Pro since Steve McNair was named co-MVP of the 2003 season with Peyton Manning, and just the third overall. John Elway in 1987 was the first to accomplish this.

Despite already being a two-time MVP, winning it in both 2019 and 2023, Jackson is coming off of his best season at the professional level. Starting all 17 of the Ravens' regular season games, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound signal caller completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 4,172 yards and 41 touchdowns - all of which are career-highs - while also rushing for 915 yards and four touchdowns.

Not only did Jackson lead the NFL in Passer Rating at 119.6 and yards per passing attempt at 8.8, he also led the league in yards per rushing attempt at 6.6. Earlier in the year, he broke Michael Vick's record for career rushing yards by a quarterback at 6,110.

Jackson helped guide Baltimore to a 12-5 regular season record, as well as an AFC North Championship. The third-seeded Ravens took down the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-14 during Wild Card Weekend to kick off their playoff run, but fell 27-25 at the Buffalo Bills during the Divisional Round.

Since being drafted by Baltimore with the final first round pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, Jackson has been one of the most electric players in the NFL. He has led the Ravens to a 70-24 record as a starter, including winning the 2019 and 2023 NFL MVP. In 103 total games, he has amassed 26,232 total yards of offense and 199 touchdowns.

Jackson is without a doubt the top player in Louisville football history. He set numerous records during his three year tenure with the Cardinals, finishing his collegiate career with 9,043 yards passing, 4,132 yards rushing and 119 total touchdowns. He became the school's first ever Heisman Trophy winner after accumulating 5,114 total yards and 51 total touchdowns in 2016.

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