One of the core stories about the Baltimore Ravens’ offense heading into the 2023 season has been the shift at offensive coordinator from Greg Roman to Todd Monken and what that means for quarterback Lamar Jackson.
While the emphasis has been on the passing game—and they’ve added a number of wide receivers through free agency and the draft this offseason to provide him with more targets—the biggest change might just be what happens at the line. Jackson has talked about being given the ability to make adjustments in this new offense. Yesterday, he was asked about if that’s something he has wanted to be able to do for a while.
“Yes, I was definitely eager, just because of certain things we see in the film room that we might not get when we’re playing”, he said, via the team’s website. “Sometimes I want to make adjustments, but like I said, Coach Todd [is] giving us that free will. It’s like, we’re going to make things happen”.
At the same time, Jackson also acknowledged that it’s a responsibility that he’s never had before. Not in high school, not in college, and not in Roman’s offense over the past several years—even if he was frequently very successful running whatever he was told to run. But he’s getting comfortable doing it, repping that work during OTAs and minicamp.
“Yes, absolutely. The more I’m being here, it helps. It helps both of us out a lot”, he said. “Like I said before, Coach Todd Monken [is] just giving us the keys to the offense and letting us do our thing. That’s pretty much helping us a lot as well”.
It is probably true that Jackson would not have been prepared to handle such tasks when he first got into the league. On the other hand, it also seems to be the case that it’s probably not something that Roman ever actively tried to nurture in his quarterback. After all, he is the one who constructed the offense around him.
Now it’s Monken in charge, however, and he’s not afraid of sharing the steering wheel. After all, he had previously accepted an offensive coordinator job with the Cleveland Browns in which he did not even have the authority to call the plays, so I’m sure he wouldn’t get too upset with an audible or two.
More than at any other point in his football life, though, the reality is that all the pressure is on Jackson. On his arm, and on his mind. Can he take that next step in the passing game and be successful at volume? Can he run the offense from the line of scrimmage and check into the right plays?
