Mike Greenberg Says Lamar Jackson Is ‘Playing for Immortality’
Coming off one of the greatest seasons ever by a quarterback, Lamar Jackson was asked Wednesday at training camp if there is another level he can take his game to.
“Yes, I’m only 28,” Jackson said. “I’m really just getting started, for real.”
The only thing missing from the two-time MVP’s resume is a Super Bowl. If and when Jackson gets one, ESPN’s Mike Greenberg said the conversation about his place in history becomes a different one.
“For Lamar and Josh Allen, what they’re playing for is immortality,” Greenberg said on “Get Up.” “Both of them could retire tomorrow and they’d be in the Hall of Fame. But if either of them, and we’ll use Lamar in this case because that’s who we’re talking about, wins a championship, all of a sudden he vaults into that place where the conversation on shows like this one are, ‘Where does he belong on the list with the great quarterbacks of all time?’ Two regular-season MVPs and a Super Bowl starts that conversation.”
It’s not a conversation that Jackson has shown interest in. He has always emphasized that he prioritizes winning a Super Bowl over individual accolades.
“I think anything short of winning a Super Bowl for Lamar is going to be seen by Lamar as a disappointment,” Kimberley A. Martin said. “As an individual, he’s already cemented what his legacy is. He can only add to it. I think for him it is the team aspect.”
As Jackson said, he’s just getting started. For context, Peyton Manning won his first Super Bowl a month before his 31st birthday. John Elway was 37 when he won his first.