The Baltimore Ravens welcomed back quarterback Lamar Jackson for their game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday after he missed the last three games due to an ankle injury. However, Jackson didn’t stay on the field long.
On the Ravens’ first offensive play of the game, Jackson threw a pass, and his hand hit Bills defender Greg Rousseau’s arm, injuring his thumb. Now, Jackson will undergo surgery on his right thumb and will be placed on injured reserve. He is expected to miss at least four weeks, and he could be sidelined longer, potentially for the rest of the season.
Now the question is, has Jackson played his last game as a Raven? Fox Sports host Nick Wright believes so.
Wright was on Colin Cowherd’s show, “The Herd,” on Tuesday and thinks Jackson will be playing for the Miami Dolphins next season.
“I think Lamar Jackson is the Week 1 starting quarterback next year for the Miami Dolphins,” Wright said, via Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post.
The Ravens Might Want to Move Jackson This Offseason
This could be the time for the Ravens to part ways with Jackson. He will enter his 10th NFL season and turn 30 in January.
His former head coach, John Harbaugh, who helped bring him in in the 2018 NFL Draft, is no longer with the Ravens, and now, with Jesse Minter as the head coach, the organization could go in a new direction.
Jackson appeared in only 13 games last season due to injuries, and he may have played only five games this season, with two of those games not in full. He did not play in the second half against the Tennessee Titans in Week 4 because of an ankle injury and played just one play against the Bills.
If the Ravens want to move on from Jackson, they have to do it this offseason before another season where he could get injured again and tank his value.
Jackson Could Return to Florida
The Dolphins would make sense for Jackson, as he is from Florida and played his high school football at Boynton Beach Community High School.
Miami also needs a quarterback in a major way. The Dolphins will likely have a top-3 pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, but if they don’t like any quarterbacks coming out of college, they might explore a trade for Jackson.
The Ravens should get at least two first-round picks in return for Jackson, but getting a third first-rounder back will be challenging. The Cleveland Browns sent three first-round picks to acquire Deshaun Watson in the 2022 offseason, but Watson was entering only his sixth NFL season and was 26 at the time.
Baltimore could trade Jackson and then enter a minor rebuild that might take a few years. The Ravens could use the draft capital they gain from the Dolphins to draft positional players in 2027 and then target a rookie quarterback in the first round of 2028.
Ravens QB Lamar Jackson Named Possible Fit for Young AFC Team Next Season