Sports Hot Takes: Lamar Jackson Better than Patrick Mahomes?

Hunter Windham '22, Writer

As their careers go on, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes will be compared to each other as competing quarterbacks in the League. Patrick Mahomes has a super bowl and MVP to his resume in his short 5 year career. Lamar Jackson has an MVP to his resume back in 2019 in his 4 year career. Both the QBs won MVP in their 2nd years of their career and have been elite since they came in the League. While both QBs are elite, they have had two different critics throughout their career. Because of these critics, Lamar Jackson has been put under some heavy fire and does not believe that he should even be playing the quarterback position. Lamar Jackson’s 2019 MVP season was more impressive than Patrick Mahomes’ 2018 MVP season. Patrick Mahomes did have an impressive MVP season throwing 50 touchdowns and over 5,000 yards. However, Lamar Jackson is revolutionizing the way that the NFL and all levels of football are looking at the quarterback position. He is a mobile quarterback which means he can make plays with more than just his arm. This gives defenses fits, forcing them to run different schemes to defend against him. Coaches, scouts and GMs (General Managers) were looking for QBs that not only have a gun slinger but can get out of the pocket and make plays. Although Patrick Mahomes has the better arm, Lamar Jackson does not have as many top-tier receivers to trust downfield. Patrick Mahomes has the best receiving tight end in the game of football in Travis Kelce and the fastest wide receiver core. This allows Mahomes to throw all of these crazy throws because he can trust that his receivers can go and get it by out running everybody. Whereas Lamar does not have as many weapons to rely on. Even with fewer weapons to throw to, Lamar has thrown fewer interceptions than Patrick and has the higher win percentage. It’s time for people to give Lamar Jackson his credit. He is revolutionizing the game and carrying on that legacy from the great running quarterbacks before him. The difference between him and them though is that he won an MVP for his mobility and is still having great success doing it.