Lamar Jackson became a 2x MVP and for some, he is a future Hall of Famer without even winning a Super Bowl. Beating Patrick Mahomes to get to that point in his life may come as a challenge. But people still have a hard time believing that he would be in the HOF just because he hasn’t won a Lombardi. Jackson’s rush game has made him unique, but to what end?

The hosts of SPEAK picked up the conversation and dubbed him the “inverse Eli Manning” because of his post-season performance. But Eli Manning catching strays won’t make a case for Jackson to be celebrated in the future. Per the hosts, as Jackson’s run game declines as he ages, his chance of making it to a Super Bowl, let alone the HOF will decline severely.

Lamar Jackson still polarizes the league to this day

Even 4 months after his loss against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC game, Lamar Jackson and the team have a “chip on their shoulders.” The QB seemed to be cheerless after the Baltimore Ravens worked so hard to get to that point. Jackson reported to media on his first day of OTAs saying, “It definitely left a bitter taste in our mouth just being that close. We worked so hard to get there and then didn’t do what we wanted to do, didn’t fulfill our dream. Definitely a little chip on our shoulder.”

Picking up after the comment, Emmanuel Acho spearheaded the debate about the Ravens QB being a future Hall of Famer. The common consensus is that his championship wins and MVP recognition won’t get him there unless he backs it up with a Super Bowl win. Jackson, in his 6 seasons with the Ravens is 2-4 in the playoffs, which has hindered his playoff journey.

Per Joy Taylor, Jackson must check a couple of boxes before he wins a Super Bowl or goes to the HOF ballot. His “individual performance, stats, and team success” are some metrics he must dominate before getting that elite label. Sure, Jackson’s brand of football is a bit “electric” due to his run game, but as he ages, his running prowess might decline, becoming one more hurdle for him to cross to get a Championship Trophy. Jackson had the highest rushing yards (821) as the 2023 season concluded.

Keeping all of this in mind, Acho made an interesting comparison between Lamar Jackson and 2x Super Bowl winner, Eli Manning. Acho speculated that the 3x Pro Bowler Jackson will not have as much success in the later stages of his life and needs to get a ring ASAP.

“Lamar Jackson, is he at risk of having the inverse Eli Manning career? Eli Manning in the regular season, average, literally, average. But in the playoffs, Eli Manning is a two-time Super Bowl MVP,” instigated the host. However, per the other hosts, Eli Manning and Lamar Jackson shouldn’t even be a part of the same conversation.

Eli Manning is not Lamarvellous, and vice versa

The younger Manning won two Super Bowls, both over the NFL GOAT Tom Brady. The New York Giants barely won two games with about a 3–4-point differential. Manning will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame next year, but his induction to the first ballot has been debated for a while now. While Acho described Eli Manning as average, he played 16 seasons, amassed 57,023 yards and 366 touchdowns. However, his rush stats tell a different story. Throughout his career, he added up just 567 yards to his rushing table. Jackson did nearly twice of that in one season!

In his first 6 seasons with the Giants, Manning scored more than 18k passing yards as opposed to Jackson’s 15,887 and 125 touchdowns. To add more to it, Jackson has 5,258 rushing yards in his career till now. But as Acho pointed out earlier, his run game will decline after a couple of years as the QB is already 27. QBs with multiple MVPs include the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Brett Favre, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, Brady, and Manning, all of whom have won a Lombardi as well.

However, to everyone’s surprise, we don’t see the younger Manning becoming a Hall of Famer till next year. Lamar Jackson on the other hand, has been an anomalous presence in the NFL. Jackson never crossed 4k yards in any season and in his 6 season tenure, Jackson only had one game where he threw for more than 400 yards.

However, it would be safe to say that these blemishes can be wiped away if Jackson gets a Super Bowl in the coming season because his biological clock is ticking down.