Lamar Jackson has made a whole lot of NFL teams look silly for passing on him in the draft. Jackson went No. 32 to the Baltimore Ravens back in 2018, and after an up-and-down rookie campaign has turned into a force of nature this year. Thanks to his ability to thrash opponents with his arm or legs, Baltimore went 14-2, the best record in the league, and Jackson is the clear favorite to be named NFL MVP.
Anyone who watched Jackson in college expected him to be really good, but playing at this high of a level in such a short period of time is still a bit surprising. That’s especially true because four quarterbacks were drafted ahead of him in 2018, although if Larry David had his way, that would not have been the case.
David, a fan of the New York Jets, appeared on Michael Kay’s radio show and got asked about his favorite NFL team. Around the 3:25 mark of the below clip, David revealed that he advised then-general manager Mike Maccagnan to draft the Heisman Trophy winning signal caller out of Louisville, which didn’t go over particularly well.
Larry David visits The Michael Kay Show and discusses some New York sports. #TMKSonYES pic.twitter.com/69sukmubMB
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) January 7, 2020
“I did call Mike Maccagnan before the 2018 draft and I recommended that he draft Lamar Jackson,” David said. “I have a witness.
“He kinda gave me the most condescending…,” David continued. “I told him that and he kinda laughed at me. But who could blame him? Nobody thought Jackson was gonna be this.”
The Jets did take a quarterback in that draft, trading up to No. 3 to select Sam Darnold out of USC. It was viewed as a pretty good pick at the time, and while Darnold has had plenty of ups and downs in his two years in the league, he could end up being a pretty good signal caller as he continues to develop. Having said that, through two years, Jackson has been the better of the two quarterbacks, to the point that you can pull a page out of Maccagnan’s playbook and laugh at the thought of Jackson not getting drafted sooner.
