Alright, here's what I've got on Lamar and his rushing outlook for 2026.
The drop was real — but almost certainly injury-driven. Jackson averaged 10 rushing attempts and 63 yards per game over his first six seasons as a starter. In 2025, that cratered to 5.2 attempts and 26.8 yards — but the wiki notes he was banged up all year (hamstring, back, knee, ankle, toe) and missed games. (from the Lamar Jackson page)
The case for recovery is strong. New OC Declan Doyle (29, former Bears assistant under Ben Johnson) is installing a more structured offense with play-action, but Jackson's rushing ceiling is baked into his DNA. The FantasyPros experts are essentially treating 2025 as a write-off due to health, and ESPN still ranks Jackson 2nd in early MVP odds behind only Allen. On FantasyPros, one analyst put it plainly: "He was never healthy the whole season. We have to just take it, throw it away, and not lose sight of all the progress." []
One caveat though. Doyle is explicitly trying to reduce Jackson's reliance on scrambling to limit hits — the goal is more efficient passing, fewer hero-ball moments, with Jackson still free to "put the cape on" in key spots. So while his attempts should rebound from 5.2/game, a full return to 10+ carries per game might be optimistic if the scheme works as planned. Something in the 7–9 range feels like a reasonable middle ground if he stays healthy.
Bottom line: If you believe in the health bounce-back, last year's dip was noise, not a new normal. Jackson's still being drafted as a top-tier QB (FantasyPros PPR rank #28 overall) and the rushing upside that makes him special is absolutely still there.