Should You Draft Lamar Jackson in Round 1? Dr. Roto Article Breakdown

QB Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is coming off a fantasy football season for the ages. Can he follow it up with another historic season in 2020? Does he even need to in order to be worth a first-round pick in fantasy drafts?

Dr. Roto took a deep dive into the topic over on Sports Illustrated, but let’s take a brief look at the possibility here.

Lamar Jackson Doesn’t Have To Be As Good To Be No. 1 QB

Assuming Jackson has 20% fewer carries, he still would have close to 1,000 yards rushing. And, assuming he throws more, I will give him closer to 3,500 yards passing, which is better than last year’s 3,127. If he can keep his interceptions to a minimum (he only threw six in 2019), his overall point total should be very close to 2019’s number.

That’s a great point by Doc. The amount of room Jackson can regress and still be great is enormous. Fun fact: If Jackson’s passing touchdown rate dropped from 9% to league average, he still would’ve been the QB1 in 2019. Even if you dropped his passing touchdown total from 36 to 19 and his rushing total from 1,206 yards to 983 yards, he’d still be 2019’s QB1. That’s how much room he has to fall back and still be elite.

Jackson Can Be Much More Valuable Than Average QB1

Josh Allen scored 290.06 points last year, ranking him as the seventh overall quarterback. Divided by 13 games, that would make Jackson about 11 points more valuable per week.

This is a great point because so often quarterbacks don’t get judged by the same value over replacement level scale that RBs and WRs do. The elite of the elite at the position still have a major advantage, even in single-QB leagues.

What do you think? Should Jackson should go in Round 1? Let us know over on the Forums.

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