Ravens Superstar Considered League-Leading Asset

Lamar Jackson is the Baltimore Raven. The franchise signal-caller is one of the best quarterbacks in the business, and he's been recognized with such by the NFL with a pair of MVP trophies, as well as by the Baltimore franchise by surrounding him with one of the best supporting casts in the league.

He's locked into the only NFL team he's ever known, the keystone to the organization's hopes of claiming a third championship. It would take an unprecedented occurrence for the team to let him go at the peak of his powers, but ESPN's Bill Barnwell ran through the hypothetical of his suddenly being made available in rating the returns that each team's top assets would fetch in the open market.

To no one's surprise, Jackson rang in as one of the most valuable in the league, let alone the Ravens. He didn't notch quite as high as some of his positional peers, with Patrick Mahomes leading all assets with a predicted seven first-round pick return and developing rival Josh Allen favored to bring five back for the Buffalo Bills, but Jackson's valuation at four first-rounders is no small price.

"Last season -- the season he didn't win MVP-- he threw 41 touchdown passes against four picks, averaged a league-high 8.8 yards per attempt and became the first player to throw for 4,000 yards and run for 800 more in the same season," Barnwell wrote.

"And yet, having seen just how limited the market was when Jackson was at least plausibly available in March 2023, I can only be realistic and suggest he would land less in the way of draft compensation than Josh Allen and Joe Burrow," Barnwell continued. "Jackson is a future Hall of Famer and has a strong case as the best football player on the planet, but there are too many franchises that weren't willing to mold their identities around his unique skill set."

For all of the awe that Jackson elicits during the regular season, that missing playoff run continues holding him back from clearly breaking away from other ringless AFC greats like Allen and Burrow, who play more familiar styles in making up for their trailing Jackson in accolades.

His Ravens are one long-awaited Super Bowl run away from skyrocketing up to Mahomes territory, and his front office has given him everything he should need to top the decorated, albeit battered, Kansas City Chiefs champion as the NFL's top asset.