Lamar Jackson Is Making A Run Back To QB1 Finish For Fantasy Football 2026
Fantasy

Lamar Jackson Is Making A Run Back To QB1 Finish For Fantasy Football 2026

Ian Hartitz breaks down how Lamar Jackson could return to fantasy football quarterback prominence with a return to health.

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For some reason, it feels like more than two years ago that Lamar Jackson put together one of the greatest fantasy football seasons for a quarterback with 4,172 passing yards and 41 TDs, with an additional 915 yards and 4 scores on the ground. Yet knowing that could still be in there, even with a new coaching staff it's hard to drop Jackson very far down the rankings. Could he be back atop the QBs in fantasy production in 2026 with a new OC? Ian Hartitz breaks it down as part of his Baltimore Ravens Team Preview.

Can Lamar Jackson get back to partying like it's 2019 or 2024 again?

It'd be pretty cool if he did, as those are literally two of the highest-scoring fantasy seasons by a quarterback … ever!

Most fantasy points per game in a season by a QB (min. 8 starts):

  1. 2019 Lamar Jackson (27.7)
  2. 2011 Aaron Rodgers (26.5)
  3. 2018 Patrick Mahomes (26.1)
  4. 2010 Michael Vick (25.9)
  5. 2013 Peyton Manning (25.6)
  6. 2024 Lamar Jackson (25.3)
  7. 2022 Jalen Hurts (25.2)

Of course, 2025 was a rough one for Jackson: His average of 16.5 fantasy points per game was easily a career-low mark and ranked just 16th at the position. It was the first time he finished with under 19.7 fantasy points per game. Turning 30 next January, maybe we've indeed already seen the best years of Lamar's (fantasy) career?

I'm not so sure about that because Lamar was hurt, dog:

  • Week 4: Jackson suffered a hamstring injury that left him sidelined for three weeks, but the impact on his rushing ability seemed to persist for far longer.
  • Week 16: Jackson was knocked out early against the Patriots due to a deep-tissue back contusion. He missed one game.

The lingering impact from the hamstring injury can't be overstated: Jackson averaged 41.5 rushing yards per game during the first four weeks of the season compared to just 22 in his final eight full starts. His average of 5.7 fantasy points per game from rushing in Weeks 1-4 was a bit off his usual excellence, but his 2.7 the rest of the way was REALLY rough. An in-game Next-Gen Stats graphic showed Jackson's average speed on rushes in Weeks 1-4 (15.52 MPH) vs. Weeks 9-15 (11.95 MPH)..

This brings us back to the original question: Should we expect Jackson to put forward another real-life/fantasy MVP-worthy campaign? I'm not overly optimistic. This passing game still has exactly *one* pass catcher who really puts any level of fear in opposing defenses, and Lamar operating at even 90% of his usual athletic excellence might not be quite enough to make up for what continues to be one of the league's cheapest offensive lines.

But hey, there is some good news: These concerns have accordingly helped make Jackson cheaper than ever in early drafts! He's still the QB2 behind only Josh Allen, but Lamar's pick at 56.5 ADP means he's usually going in the later parts of Round 5. That's quite the far cry from what we saw by the end of the 2023 (34.7), 2024 (37) and 2025 (21.7) draft cycles. As a whole, the QB2-5 this year are MUCH cheaper than what we're used to seeing. I'm not exactly going out of my way to draft Lamar in every draft, but there is a nice sweet spot in Round 6 where taking a QB seems VERY fair with the top-30 receivers, top-26 RBs, and top-4 tight ends already off the board.

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Lamar Jackson
    LamarJackson
    QBBALBAL
    PPG
    16.3
    Proj
    318.4

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