Lamar Jackson. Brent Skeen-USA TODAY Sports

Lamar Jackson sets lofty goal with Ravens' new WR group

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 5/4/23

During Thursday’s news conference to officially announce his new five-year, $260M contract, Lamar Jackson made it clear he never wanted to leave Baltimore even before the Ravens signed receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and drafted Zay Flowers 22nd overall in the draft last week.

And now that the 26-year-old former MVP has two new wideouts to go along with his two 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-5 tight ends, Jackson said he’s setting the bar high for what he thinks the Ravens passing offense can accomplish in 2023.

"I'm very eager (to work with my new WRs), to be honest with you," Jackson told reporters, via ESPN’s Adam Schefter. "I think I told someone, I want to throw for like 6,000 yards with the weapons we have. I'm not an individual award type of guy or a stat watcher. I just want to do that because no one has ever done that, and I feel like we have the weapons to do it. We've got explosive guys.”

Eric DeCosta says he wants to maximize Lamar Jackson’s abilities and admits he’s probably done a poor job of doing that over the last couple of years by not having more receivers around him

This offseason, he’s added both Odell Beckham Jr. and Zay Flowers pic.twitter.com/HyF66hg0VJ
— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) May 4, 2023

While not impossible, 6,000 passing yards is highly unlikely. Peyton Manning holds the record for most passing yards in a single season with 5,477, and Jackson himself has never thrown for more than 3,200 yards in a single season.

Jackson has only played with one receiver who totaled more than 62 receptions or reached 1,000 yards in five seasons with the Ravens — Marquise Brown in 2021 (91 receptions, 1,008 yards).

Beckham Jr. has five 1,000-yard seasons under his belt, though his last come in 2019 and he’s missed 29 games over the last three seasons. Flowers had a 78-reception, 1,077-yard season at Boston College last season. He averaged 15.3 yards per reception in four years with the Eagles.

Though Jackson hasn’t taken a snap yet with either of his new top two receivers, it's presumed they’ll both be upgrades over Baltimore’s leading receivers from last year — Demarcus Robinson (48 receptions, 458 yards) and Devin Duvernay (37 receptions, 407 yards).

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