Former Ravens OC Marty Mornhinweg Denies Wanting To Move Lamar Jackson To Wide Receiver
BALTIMORE (WJZ/CBS Sports) -- Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is coming off a blowout win against the Texans and insiders say he may even be a candidate for the league MVP.
But was he supposed to be a receiver? That's what CBS Sports reported Monday.
According to former NFL general manager Mike Lombardi, who hosts The GM Shuffle podcast, former Ravens offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg was among the crowd that wanted to move Jackson to receiver.
"Here's what happened," Lombardi said on the podcast. "The first time he comes in, Marty Mornhinweg -- remember, we're building the team around (Jackson) -- Marty says to the coaches, this is a fact, 'When are we gonna move him to receiver.'"
But on Tuesday, Mornhinweg responded to the report saying "that didn't happen."
"Never said that," Mornhinweg said in a statement the Ravens released on Mornhinweg's behalf. "My thoughts before the draft, and even more when we started working with Lamar, was that this young man was going to be a special quarterback. Very early we saw that along with all of his throwing and escape abilities, he reads the field as well as any young quarterback I ever worked with."
"Organizationally, we were on the same page with Lamar, and I thought Ozzie (Newsome) and Eric (DeCosta) did a great job to take him where we did. Marty was excited from the beginning to coach Lamar and was instrumental in helping him progress through his rookie season," added Coach John Harbaugh.
