Longtime Sports Columnist Gets Roasted by Former Raven for Foolish Lamar Jackson Take

Once again, Baltimore's quarterback is caught at the center of some ill-advised criticism.

Nov 3, 2019; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) runs past New England Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy (53) during the fourth quarter at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

When it comes to the NFL, the offseason very frequently turns into silly season.

Cue up veteran Miami Herald columnist Greg Cote calling Lamar Jackson a “career disappointment" on The Dan LeBatard Show.

“We’re all dancing around what’s obvious with Lamar Jackson. We're all dancing around the fact that right now, he’s the great two-time MVP who has been a career disappointment. He’s never won, he’s never led his team to a Super Bowl. He’s 3-5 in the playoffs. The pressure is on Lamar Jacskon to prove it in the postseason”.

Cote’s opinion drew heavy criticism on social media, including an inspired rebuttal from free agent linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who played for Baltimore over the last three seasons. 

Can I ask why yall trying this narrative with pressure on Lamar when he already won the pressure argument! Yall started off his career by saying should he should play WR or RB?!? He said watch this and won a MVP not just once but 2x (should have been 3 that’s for another day) !…

— Kyle Van Noy (@KVN_03) April 9, 2026

Basing your opinions on rings isn’t just lazy, but plain dumb. Anyone can google “past Super Bowl winners” anytime, anywhere.

As Van Noy correctly points out, Jackson has changed the way the NFL perceives quarterbacks, and has opened the doors for offenses to try things considered taboo in the old days. To put it simply, he represents the next step in the evolution of the quarterback. If that in itself doesn’t hold enough value, consider Mr. Super Bowl rings himself, Tom Brady, famously told Jackson "You're the reason why people watch the NFL".

Yeah sure, "disappointing".

Attempting to grade an individual career on team merits, instead of individual merits, is illogical. Jackson has already proven he was worth way more than the 32nd overall pick in 2018. As a quarterback, he’s played better individually over the course of his career than every other quarterback picked ahead of him including Josh Allen -- who got a passing mention by Cote -- and Sam Darnold, this year’s Super Bowl winning quarterback. 

Now Peyton Manning isn’t who he is because of how he played during Super Bowl XLI or Super Bowl 50. He is who he is based on a body of work that spanned 18 years in the NFL. And as Van Noy rightly mentions, those two rings are just the cherry on top.

In the same vein, is Myles Garrett a “career disappointment”? What about Barry Sanders?

The other part of Cote’s fallacy is the belief that just being good should be enough to win. This would amount to multiple Super Bowl winning teams every year, as there are multiple quarterbacks playing very good football each season. In some instances, teams end up winning it all despite how their quarterbacks are playing. 

So yes, everyone plays with the Super Bowl as the ultimate goal. But it’s a collective goal within the structure of a team sport. So many things have to go right -- including plain old luck -- at the same time for any team to win a Super Bowl, and no matter how important a quarterback is, he’s just a small part of something bigger. Even individual accolades are a direct result of teamwork. No rushing champion ever blocked for himself. 

Heck, even actually being part of a Super Bowl winning team and being named the game’s Most Valuable Player isn’t enough to silence the critics, as Jalen Hurts would know. Or does anybody here really believe this Jackson nonsense would stop if he wins? Not likely.

This isn’t about creating prefabricated excuses for Jackson’s future performances.

This is about putting things in perspective. He’ll be leading the thinnest roster he’s known as a pro in 2026 after the Ravens got stripped down in free agency, and he’s never known what a true, dominant WR1 in his prime looks like. Yet, he’s been able to put up superhuman stats while constantly facing an undeserved amount of scrutiny because of the way he looks and the way he plays the game. For Jackson, the pressure’s never been off, and he’s responded admirably.

Super Bowl ring or not -- which cannot be discarded at any point in the future by the way, including this year -- he’s already a future Hall of Famer. 

Such a “disappointment” for sure.