It’s unquestionable that the Baltimore Ravens are having a phenomenal season in 2024/25, with a 12-5 record securing them both the AFC North conference crown and the No. 3 playoff seed in the AFC.
It’s also unquestionable that the Ravens offense has been a pivotal factor in the team’s success, with the first-year tandem of running back Derrick Henry and quarterback Lamar Jackson helping to power the team’s offense to the highest net yards per play in NFL history.
One of the only things that becomes questionable in an offensive as explosive as the Ravens’ this season is whether the merits of Henry or Jackson should detract from each other when it comes to evaluating them in singular fashion for MVP candidacy.
Henry and Jackson have been breaking all sorts of records this year. They set the NFL single-season record for combined rushing yards for a running back and quarterback, with 2,836 yards (beating out 2024’s duo of Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts from the Philadelphia Eagles with 2,635 and 2012’s Alfred Morris and Robert Griffin III with 2,428).
Henry, with a career-high 5.9 YPC, became the first player in NFL history with 1900 rush yards in multiple seasons, and finished the season with 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns. Jackson added 915 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Of course, Jackson was no slouch in the passing category either, throwing for 4,172 yards and 41 touchdowns (he did this despite not having a top 24 wide receiver on the season — not to detract from Zay Flowers or Tylan Wallace, who both did well this year).
Although some might say that the argument for Lamar Jackson as MVP is diminished by Henry’s success, Henry himself isn’t one of them.
“You can put anybody by Lamar, and they’re going to have a hell of a year,” Henry told Sarah Ellison of the Ravens Vault podcast. “It’s just the type of player that he is. My success shouldn’t knock his, or vice versa.
“Lamar is the main reason why I came here. It was to play with a Hall of Fame , MVP-caliber quarterback.”
While Lamar’s season has been phenomenal, the case could be made for other QBs in the league as well, like the Bills’ Josh Allen and even Joe Burrow (the Bengals missed the playoffs despite Burrow being the league’s leading passer with the league’s leading receiver in Ja’Marr Chase).
Though Henry is obviously biased, and gives Allen his props, he thinks Jackson is the clear MVP winner this season.
“I’ve been seeing all the chatter (about MVP). I forgot who said it, [but we should] celebrate the two – him and Josh Allen. They both had a hell of a year this year,” Henry said.
“I feel like Lamar – in his case – I feel like his stats can be even better. I feel like he’s the best player in the league, and it’s only going to get better from here. I don’t feel like what I’ve done should hurt him. I feel like he’s helped me even more.”
Do you agree with the comments made by Ravens RB Derrick Henry on Lamar Jackson as MVP? Is Jackson the clear-cut MVP or did Henry’s monstrous season at running back detract from Jackson’s candidacy despite him implying the opposite?
