Lamar Jackson isn't conceding his season, even if the injury report suggests he might have to.
The Ravens quarterback is expected to miss six to nine weeks with a fractured and dislocated right thumb, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Sunday morning, but Jackson has told teammates he intends to return later this year. The catch is that Baltimore, now 4-5 and losers of four straight, has to still be playing meaningful games when he's ready.
Lamar Jackson is out 6-9 weeks with a fractured and dislocated thumb. But the former MVP has vowed to return -- assuming Baltimore stays alive. The Jacoby Brissett trade should help.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet), Nov. 8, 2026
According to Rapoport, Jackson delivered that message within a day of getting hurt, and his rallying cry to the locker room boiled down to "just stay alive." Teammates who heard it described it as a jolt of energy after many had assumed his year was finished. Jackson is undergoing surgery to repair the thumb and was placed on injured reserve last week, but the Ravens have not ruled him out for the season.
How Lamar Jackson Got Hurt
Jackson injured the thumb on his throwing hand on Baltimore's very first offensive snap of last Sunday's loss to the Buffalo Bills. It was his first game back after missing three straight with a high ankle sprain, which means the Ravens have effectively played four games without him, and lost all four.
Backup Tyler Huntley was hurt in the same game with a toe injury and also went on injured reserve. Rapoport reported that Huntley is expected to miss the rest of the season.
That left undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano to start Thursday night against Jacksonville on three days of preparation while playing through his own ankle injury. Fagnano threw for 60 yards in a 33-10 loss to the Jaguars, and the Ravens' offense was reduced to Wildcat snaps for Derrick Henry and short throws. Baltimore has now been held under 14 points in four consecutive games, a franchise first, and has lost three straight by 20 or more points for the first time in its 31 seasons.
Analysis: When Could Lamar Jackson Realistically Return?
A six-to-nine-week recovery is a wide window, and where Jackson lands inside it decides whether a comeback means anything.
The typical timeline for a fractured and dislocated thumb repaired surgically is built around two phases. First, the bone has to heal and the joint has to stabilize after the dislocation, which usually means several weeks of immobilization. Then comes the part that matters most for a quarterback: rebuilding grip strength and range of motion in the throwing hand well enough to spin the ball, take snaps under center and protect the football when he runs. For most positions, a player can return with a splint or club and play through it. A quarterback's throwing thumb doesn't allow that shortcut, which is why teams tend to lean toward the back half of these estimates.
Counting from the Nov. 1 injury date, here's how the window maps onto Baltimore's schedule. If the clock effectively starts from this week's surgery instead, each date shifts back several days.
| Recovery mark | Approx. date | Ravens game in play |
|---|---|---|
| 6 weeks (best case) | Dec. 13 | Week 14 |
| 7 weeks | Dec. 20 | Week 15 |
| 8 weeks | Dec. 27 | Week 16 vs. Cleveland Browns |
| 9 weeks (outside estimate) | Jan. 3 | Week 18 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (after the Dec. 31 Thursday game at Cincinnati) |
The best case is Week 14. Injured reserve doesn't stand in the way: IR requires a player to miss at least four games, and Jackson will have sat out the Jaguars, Chargers and the next two games by the time Baltimore's Week 13 bye arrives. The bye is a quiet bonus here. It absorbs a full week of rehab without costing Baltimore a game, so a six-week recovery would cost Jackson only four games after the Bills game.
The more realistic case is Week 15 or 16. Quarterbacks rarely come back on the earliest possible date, and the Ravens will want Jackson to practice and throw at full velocity before activating him. A return for the Dec. 27 home game against Cleveland would put him back for the final three weeks of the regular season.
The short-week problem is real. If Jackson returns against the Browns, he'd turn around four days later for a Thursday night road game in Cincinnati, a tough ask for a quarterback with a freshly repaired throwing hand. Baltimore could choose to time his return around that stretch.
The worst case is the finale. At nine weeks, Jackson might be available only for the Week 18 home game against Pittsburgh, a game that could decide the AFC North or a wild-card spot if Baltimore has kept pace.
There's also a decision that only the standings can make. If the Ravens fall well out of contention by mid-December, there would be little reason to put their franchise quarterback on the field with a surgically repaired thumb. That's the "assuming Baltimore stays alive" part of Rapoport's report, and it puts the burden squarely on the next five games.
Jacoby Brissett Is the Bridge
That's where Jacoby Brissett comes in. The Ravens made the trade with Arizona official on Friday, sending a 2027 fourth-round pick and a 2028 seventh-rounder to the Cardinals for the 33-year-old and a 2027 fifth.
Brissett wasn't brought in to replace Jackson long term. He's a holdover, a veteran who can steady the offense with Jackson and Huntley both on injured reserve and Fagnano limited at best by his ankle. He has started 73 games across 11 seasons and set career highs as Arizona's starter in 2025, and his career has been built on taking over offenses midseason and keeping them functional.
His job is simple to describe and hard to do: keep the Ravens within striking distance of a playoff spot so that Jackson's return matters. He's expected to make his Baltimore debut on Monday Night Football against the winless Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 16, and a win there would get the Ravens back to 5-5.
What the Ravens Have Said About Life Without Lamar
Head coach Jesse Minter declined to discuss Jackson's surgery or a possible return after Thursday's loss. His players, though, have been clear about both how much Jackson matters and how little they can lean on that.
"Lamar is incredible. He is obviously going to be sorely missed," tight end Mark Andrews said. "He's such a special player and a leader on this team, and has been for a long, long time."
Left tackle Ronnie Stanley framed it as a standard the team has to meet regardless. "Lamar [Jackson]'s [the] best player in the NFL, but we can't rely on him," Stanley said. "And even when he's here, the message is you can't rely on Lamar to just win us games."
Linebacker Roquan Smith put it more bluntly. "Obviously, it sucks losing Lamar [Jackson], but we all know at the end of the day, in this league, it's the next man up, regardless of who you are," he said.
The Ravens' Path to Keeping Jackson's Return Meaningful
Baltimore has eight games left, beginning with the Chargers. The stretch that matters most for Jackson's comeback is the four games between now and the Week 13 bye. If the Ravens can come out of that run at or near .500, a mid-December return gives them a healthy Jackson for the final month and a real shot at the playoffs. If they don't, the most likely outcome is that Jackson's vow becomes a 2027 storyline instead.
Henry, for one, isn't looking that far ahead. "We've got eight games left," he said after Thursday's loss. "We've got to go back to work."
Up Next: Ravens vs. Chargers
Matchup: Los Angeles Chargers at Baltimore Ravens
When: Monday, Nov. 16 (Monday Night Football)
Where: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore
Projected starter: QB Jacoby Brissett