The Baltimore Ravens have started the season 1-3. With a tough early schedule, quarterback Lamar Jackson hasn’t been able to lead the team to the strong starts they’ve had in the past.
Jackson suffered a hamstring injury during the Week 4 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs. With many games still ahead, the Ravens face uncertainty over how many, if any, will be played without their star quarterback.
Lamar Jackson Injury Update for Week 5
On Monday, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh confirmed that the score against the Chiefs did not affect Jackson’s status. “There was no way he was going to go back in the game. The injury precluded it,” the Ravens head coach said. “There was no way he could go back in the game. If he could have gone in the game, he would have been in the game.”
“That’s how Lamar, that’s how he is,” he added. “But I can assure you that he would not have been able to go back in the game under any circumstances.”
Jackson was listed as questionable for Week 5, and as per the Baltimore Sun’s Brian Wacker, the Ravens superstar is unlikely to play against the Houston Texans.
“Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is likely to miss Sunday’s game against the visiting Houston Texans with a hamstring injury, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday,” Wacker wrote. “Given the nature of the injury, he also could be out for up to 2-3 weeks, one of the sources said.”
The Ravens star did not practice on Wednesday. On Thursday, NFL insider Josina Anderson provided another update on Jackson after the Ravens star missed another practice.
“Ravens QB Lamar Jackson (hamstring) is not currently expected to play this Sunday vs the Texans, nor next week vs the Rams (outside of faster healing, which still can be deceptive),” she wrote on X. “The bye week is after that. That’s a good safe window to help better ensure the hamstring issue doesn’t reappear later in the season when it counts more.”
Jackson did not practice on Friday as well, and he is almost certain to not play in Week 5. “Ravens injuries linger, with no sign of Lamar Jackson or Kyle Hamilton today,” wrote Adam Schefter on X. “Another sign they’ll be out Sunday.”
The Ravens have relatively easier games after their bye week, and even if they are 1-5 after Week 6, Jackson can still lead them to the playoffs. Here are their four fixtures from Week 8 to Week 11:
- Week 8: vs. Chicago Bears
- Week 9: at Miami Dolphins
- Week 10: at Minnesota Vikings
- Week 11: at Cleveland Browns
If anything, Harbaugh could use these next two weeks to continue to rest Jackson, who is currently the fifth-best quarterback in the league based on PFSN’s QB Impact metric.
Jackson’s Fantasy Outlook
PFSN’s Kyle Soppe wrote this about Jackson’s fantasy outlook after his injury in Week 4:
The Ravens made it clear on Monday afternoon that Jackson’s early exit from their Week 4 blowout loss to the Chiefs was not due to the score but a legitimate hamstring injury, which has his status for this week in question.
Baltimore might try to rest their former MVP this week, work him up to game speed ahead of Week 6 (vs. Rams) before the Week 7 bye.
This situation certainly requires monitoring, but the fantasy plan is pretty straightforward: mirror what the 1-3 Ravens do (currently, it sounds like a Week 5 absence at the very least).
The streaming options aren’t great this week with four teams on bye, but Tua Tagovailoa gets the Panthers, and Stroud gets a banged-up Ravens defense.
