Lamar Jackson finally addressed the elephant in the room: his legs basically disappeared last season. He carried the ball just 67 times in 2025, the lowest total of his eight-year career and a massive drop from the 144 carries a year he averaged from 2018 through 2024. His explanation is simple. He was hurt, a lot, and couldn't do what he normally does. "I was hurt last year, so I really could not do anything like I wanted to," Jackson said, adding that whatever it takes to win is what he's about.
The injury log backs him up. A right hamstring issue in Week 4 knocked him out for three games. From there it was a rolling list of ailments — knee, ankle and toe problems kept him off the practice field for four straight weeks in November and December, and a back contusion sat him for Week 17 against Green Bay. Add it up and Jackson played in only 11 of 17 games. The rushing numbers cratered accordingly: after piling up 915 rushing yards in 2024, he managed just 349 yards and 2 touchdowns on those 67 carries in 2025.
Here's the part that should calm anyone panicking about decline: Jackson isn't old, and this wasn't a talent or scheme issue. He's still the NFL's all-time leader in quarterback rushing yards with 6,522 for his career, and he needs just 38 more carries to pass Cam Newton for the most rushing attempts by a quarterback ever. That record is going to fall early this season if he's anywhere near healthy. The legs aren't gone. They were just wrapped in tape all year.
The Ravens also aren't running it back with the same setup. John Harbaugh is out after nearly two decades, Jesse Minter is the new head coach, and 29-year-old Declan Doyle — poached from the Bears' staff — takes over as offensive coordinator. New play-callers tend to lean on what got them the job, and Doyle's background suggests an offense that still wants Jackson creating with his legs when the pocket breaks down. Derrick Henry isn't going anywhere either, coming off back-to-back seasons of 1,500-plus rushing yards, so the run-game infrastructure around Jackson stays elite regardless of how many designed keepers he gets called.
For fantasy purposes, this is close to a free discount. Jackson's ADP has settled around QB2 in most consensus rankings, generally going off the board in the third or fourth round, a noticeable markdown from the pick-in-the-first-two-rounds range he occupied when healthy. That's a market pricing in last year's missed time and diminished rushing floor, not necessarily 2026 reality. If he's back to even 100-110 carries with his usual efficiency as a passer, he's a top-3 fantasy quarterback again, and drafters willing to bet on health are getting him at a discount relative to Josh Allen and the rest of the rushing-QB tier.
The betting markets seem to agree the Ravens are fine. Baltimore's win total sits at 11.5, tied for the highest in the league, and Jackson is priced around +800 for MVP — behind Allen but well within striking distance if the legs come back and Henry keeps the defense honest. Books aren't treating 2025 as a new baseline; they're treating it as an outlier season that happened to coincide with a new coaching staff and a string of nagging, non-structural injuries.
What to watch: how Doyle deploys designed runs and RPOs early in the preseason and Week 1, and whether Jackson shows up on any injury report before the opener. If he's full-go in camp and the carry totals in preseason snaps look normal, that ADP discount won't last through August. Fade the injury history at your own risk, but don't confuse a banged-up year with a declining player — the rushing record chase alone tells you the Ravens still plan to let him run.