Lamar Jackson Camp Update — August 23: Flores Won Both Days
2026 NFL Season · Sunday, Aug 23
Lamar Jackson's first extended look at another defense went to the defense — Minnesota's blitzes won both joint practice days, took the closing two-minute drills, and stopped his scrambles, per the Banner and Russell Street Report. He sat Saturday's game.
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Lamar Jackson's first two days against somebody else's defense went to the defense. In the joint practices at Minnesota's facility, Brian Flores's blitz packages pressured Jackson from the opening periods Wednesday, stacked would-be sacks in succession, and stopped him when he tried to scramble, per Giana Han at The Baltimore Banner. Tony Lombardi at Russell Street Report described the two days as mostly short gains mixed with sacks, run stuffs, tackles for loss and pass breakups, with the Vikings winning the closing two-minute drills against both the first offense and the second, and Vikings corner James Pierre — Jackson's cousin — intercepting him. Nobody published completion charting for either day, so the accounts are qualitative, but they agree. The cleanest connection that did surface: Rashod Bateman had a nice one-on-one rep and several catches on quick throws in team drills, per Han. Jackson then sat Saturday's 13 to three win over the Vikings, per Quentin Corpuel at the team's site, and has not played a preseason snap.
The people involved mostly declined to soften it. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley, per Clifton Brown at the team's site: "Things have to be a lot cleaner." Head coach Jesse Minter, per Dave Campbell of the Associated Press: "It's a great test. It's a unique scheme. He does a great job." The scheme point is the fair caveat — Flores blitzes more exotically than almost anyone Jackson will see in a given month — and the protection failures in front of him, including a season-ending patellar tear for center Danny Pinter mid-practice, are not a quarterback stat.
Still, the shape of the week matters for the thing our June preview said to watch. That preview argued Jackson's down year had an injury-shaped explanation and the bet was his legs coming back with his health — and the health is fine, but this was the first defense that could game-plan his scrambles, and it largely erased them, two days after a camp of clean pocket work against his own teammates. What to watch: whether Jackson plays at all against Washington on Saturday before rosters cut to 53 on Sunday, August 30, and who is snapping to him at center — Jovaughn Gwyn and Ethan Pocic split the job in the game, per Brown, with no ruling. We'll check after cut day.
_Data via nflverse._
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