Who Are Lamar Jackson’s Parents? Get To Know the Baltimore Ravens QB’s Family

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson took home his second NFL MVP award in 2024, becoming just the 11th player in league history to win the honor multiple times.

Jackson has become one of the faces of the NFL, which has led to increased interest in his personal life and upbringing. Jackson wouldn’t be here today without his strong support system, which included his mother, Felicia Jones, and late father, Lamar Jackson Sr.

Meet Lamar Jackson’s Parents, Lamar Sr. and Felicia Jones

Born on January 7, 1997, in Pompano Beach, Florida, Jackson grew up in a large family. His father, Lamar Sr., instilled in him a love for football, and his mother, Felicia, provided unwavering support. The family’s values of hard work and perseverance shaped Lamar’s character and fueled his drive to succeed.

After Lamar Sr. passed away when Jackson was only 8 years old, his mother played a crucial role in her son’s life. She raised Lamar and his three siblings on her own, and her strength and resilience were a constant source of inspiration for Lamar.

Tragically, Lamar’s grandmother passed away on the same day in 2005 that his father died. Jackson spoke about how the tragic day affected him during his Heisman Trophy speech.

“It hurt me,” Jackson said. “I wanted to cry real bad, but my mom was the real soldier. She told me, ‘Lamar don’t cry,’ and I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”

Jones became instrumental in Jackson’s development as an athlete.

“She used to play basketball. She saw what we were able to do, and she’d go back there and play football with us,” Jackson told ESPN.

Jackson also credits his mother for his work ethic, as he saw firsthand how hard she worked to support him and his siblings.

“She was a huge influence on my life, her just raising the four of us … and just seeing how she would grind and work without complaining, telling me not to get a job and just focus on football, and she would take care of everything else,” Jackson said. “Just seeing that, it was like, ‘If she can do that, I can do anything.’

“She was raising four kids on her own and not asking for a handout or reaching out to people … to pay her bills. I never heard her complain about anything like that. I’d just see her wake up early in the morning, go to work, come back late at night from work. It was like, ‘Man, this woman is a superhero to me.”

The two are so close that Jackson used his first NFL paycheck to buy his mom a new home.

“My immediate family is my mom. Everything goes around her. I’m a mama’s boy,” Jackson once told The Courier-Journal. “She’s the one who keeps me motivated no matter what. She’s driving me. Whenever you need someone to lean back on, or to talk to, she’s there. She motivates me to go out there and compete.”

Jones also serves as Jackson’s manager, and she helped him negotiate his five-year, $260 million contract with the Ravens.

“She’s my manager,” Jackson said of his mom. “I feel like she was managing me really well. … Me and her [were] piggybacking off of each other [to complete the deal].”

Prior to the 2018 NFL Draft, Jackson decided he didn’t want to pay an agent a commission.

“I know coming in as a rookie, an agent doesn’t really negotiate anything,” Jackson told USA Today prior to entering the NFL. “You’re going to get the salary you’re going to get. I decided I don’t need him. He’s going to be taking a big cut out of my paycheck … and I feel I deserve it right now.”

He decided to represent himself, which he still does to this day — with the help of his mom.

Bills vs. Ravens: Week 1, Preview and Prediction

We all know the headline for this one. Jackson and Allen are the last two MVP winners and two of the most entertaining quarterbacks ever to play the game. They lead two of the best teams in the league that have yet to get over the Super Bowl hump.

This might be the most entertaining regular-season matchup possible in today’s NFL, and the league gave the fans a gift by making this the Week One Sunday Night game. But as otherworldly as the two starting quarterbacks are, recent matchups between the two teams have come down to the other players.

In last year’s 35-10 Ravens Sunday Night demolition of Buffalo, Lamar Jackson played as much of a supporting role as a quarterback who averaged 0.39 EPA/Play while accounting for three total touchdowns. Derrick Henry started off the game with an 87-yard touchdown run on the first play and finished with 199 yards rushing.

As a team, Baltimore ran the ball 34 times for 271 yards, while Lamar Jackson threw the ball just 19 times. The Bills had similar difficulties stopping the Ravens in the playoffs, relying largely on turnovers and self-inflicted Ravens wounds to win.

Defense was a bigger issue for the Bills last year, as a unit that had typically been towards the top of the league in the Allen era took a step backwards to being just slightly above average, finishing 12th in EPA/Play. The Bills aggressively worked on improving that side of the ball in the offseason, using their five draft picks on defense while bringing in veterans Tre’Davious White and Joey Bosa to help provide stability.

But first-round cornerback Maxwell Hairston is on the injured reserve, leaving the cornerback room outside of All-Pro Christian Benford a major question mark.

On the other side of the ball, Buffalo relied largely on the running game to move the ball in the playoff win. Ravens Defensive Coordinator Zachary Orr called perhaps his best game of the year in the Week Four matchup, with his simulated pressures and disguised blitzes on passing downs holding Buffalo to just 3-13 on third down. The Bills wanted to stay out of third-and-long, and figured the best way to do so was by taking advantage of their elite offensive line.

The fact that neither quarterback has unveiled their full share of magic tricks in recent matchups makes projecting this matchup difficult, as both are liable to do so at any given moment. In many ways, the Ravens vs Bills matchup is an unfinished product, waiting to reach its highest potential.

With the caveat that either quarterback can put on the Superman cape and win the game themselves, the rest of Baltimore’s roster is better than Buffalo’s. The only matchup where the Bills might have an advantage is their offensive line against the Ravens’ defensive front.

What’s more, the Ravens have the benefit of having more defensive continuity early in the season. While a Josh Allen superhero performance or a Ravens implosion are possible, Baltimore has more paths to winning this game than Buffalo.

Prediction: Ravens 27 – Bills 24