Ravens' OC Todd Monken Aiming to 'Lessen The Burden' on Lamar Jackson
The Baltimore Ravens have a new offensive coordinator in Todd Monken. Taking over an offense from Greg Roman that was relied on heavily by Lamar Jackson, Monken is slowly putting his own unique spin on Baltimore's offense.
With new weapons in Odell Beckham Jr. and the newly drafted Zay Flowers to complement Mark Andrews, the returning Rashod Bateman, and the rushing attack in Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins, Monken wants to make life a lot easier for Jackson.
"I think the more talented you are around your quarterback, the less he has to burden -- take on that burden -- shoulder the load because you're excited about getting others the football where they can utilize their skill set," Monken said.
That is all good and well, but when you have a dual-threat quarterback who is so devastating at throwing and running the football, sometimes it can be hard to break away from.
But if the NFL has taught us anything, it's that running quarterbacks don't tend to last too long. With Jackson having 159 rushing attempts (2020), 133 (2021), and 112 (2022), he is a big part of the offense.
But...
As we have heard Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen stated that he is getting older and can't do everything himself, Monken had a similar thought with Lamar.
"As you get further into your career, as Lamar gets older – as everybody does – you want to take some of that off of the player as best you can," Monken said. "But he has a unique trait, a unique skill set. You can't take that completely out of his toolbox because that's a huge weapon for him and, for us, is using his feet."
Jackson's ability as a runner is nearly unmatched by any other player in the NFL, and as such, the Ravens would be silly to try and take that away.
But...
Lamar is a quarterback first and a runner second. Given the new additions to the offense, Jackson will likely be relied upon less to do things himself.
Monken has a plan laid out for Jackson, and it feels like it is aimed at utilizing the weapons around him to ease the offensive burden on Lamar, which could, in turn, makes Baltimore a more dangerous football team.
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