​Lamar Jackson’s injury-shortened 2025 season did not significantly damage his standing among NFL coaches and executives.The Baltimore Ravens quarterback ranked fifth overall in The Athletic’s 2026 NFL Quarterback Tiers, leading a historically large group of 13 quarterbacks placed in Tier 2. Jackson received 22 Tier 1 votes, more than any quarterback who failed to make the survey’s highest category.Patrick Mahomes ranked first, while Josh Allen and reigning MVP Matthew Stafford tied for second. Joe Burrow completed the four-player Tier 1 group, leaving Jackson immediately outside the league’s consensus elite class.Jackson made his Tier 1 debut last year but slipped back to the top of Tier 2 after failing to threaten defenses as much with his legs in 2025.“I’m not sure how much he wants to run and take hits anymore,” an opposing coach said. “He can’t be special without the threat of a run. I think he needs to be more active when he does run. It used to be he would go and outrun you. Now, he kind of goes, but he is not always moving with purpose.”Jackson’s rushing yards per game fell by about 50 percent year over year. So did his total of Tier 1 votes.The result offers an important distinction. Jackson was not considered a borderline second-tier quarterback. Nearly half of the 50-person panel voted to place him in Tier 1, and no quarterback outside the top four came closer to joining the group. The annual exercise, conducted by Mike Sando, polled 29 coaches and 21 executives. Voters were asked to place 35 veteran quarterbacks into five categories based on their ability to carry an offense and perform in pure passing situations.Jackson’s placement followed a challenging season in which injuries limited him to 13 starts. He completed 63.6% of his passes for 2,549 yards, 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions while finishing with a 103.8 passer rating. Jackson also rushed for 349 yards and two touchdowns, but Baltimore went 6-7 in his starts and finished 8-9.Those results represented a significant departure from Jackson’s previous standard. The two-time NFL MVP threw for a career-high 4,172 yards with 41 touchdowns and four interceptions in 2024, finishing second in the MVP voting after producing one of the most efficient passing seasons in league history.Jackson will attempt to return to that level in a reworked offense led by first-year coordinator Declan Doyle. Baltimore has surrounded him with Derrick Henry, Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely while rebuilding portions of the offensive line.The ranking confirms that league decision-makers largely viewed 2025 as an interruption rather than evidence of a permanent decline. Jackson remains one of the NFL’s five highest-rated quarterbacks and the player most likely to disrupt the consensus Tier 1 group.His next challenge is turning that individual respect into the postseason run that has eluded Baltimore. If Jackson returns to his MVP form and leads th