BALTIMORE — Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson attended the first day of voluntary organized team activities on Monday and has been in the building this week.

That’s all you need to know.

Of course, the Ravens treated his entrance into the training facility as if he were the pope. There was the hilarious slow-motion entrance on social media, but we will forgive the franchise for the hype. But here are the words many people don’t know: quarterback and leadership are synonymous.

It’s a fact. When players see their quarterback working hard, they work harder. It’s the nature of the game, and of the quarterback position.

Maybe, just maybe, after eight years in the NFL, the greatest dual-threat player in the game and two-time NFL Most Valuable Player has figured it out. If he wants to prolong his career, he has to work harder than ever before and put more time into training. Ask all the great players who preceded him in Baltimore, such as Hall of Famers Ray Lewis (middle linebacker), Shannon Sharpe (tight end), Rod Woodson (cornerback/safety), Ed Reed (safety) and Jonathan Ogden (left tackle).

There is no shortcut.

Or maybe Jackson wasn’t happy with his performance last season when he missed four games with various injuries and completed 63.6% of his passes for 2,549 yards and 21 touchdowns. When a quarterback attends voluntary workouts, it creates a harmonious situation.

“What we’ve seen from Lamar, and obviously talking to him in the offseason, couldn’t be more excited for what we’ll see in the body that we’ll get to see on Sundays in the season,” said Ravens strength and conditioning coach Scott Elliott, who added that the practices were well attended. “The energy, the work ethic that I don’t think gets talked about enough, because we just get excited about what you see on the field. That’s what’s been really, really cool to be a part of and see grow this time of year. He brings a lot of joy to the workouts.”

That’s all part of being a leader, and the Ravens have been void of it for years, ever since former coach John Harbaugh cut all the alpha males after the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2012. There is no Lewis, no Reed, no Anquan Boldin or Bernard Pollard.

Now, if Jackson can fill that void, it’s a big step for this team. Actually, it’s huge.

The Ravens went into sulk mode a year ago when they started the season 1-5. Thirteen of their 22 starters were dealing with injuries by the end of Week 4, including Jackson (hamstring), left tackle Ronnie Stanley (ankle), fullback Patrick Ricard (calf), wide receiver Zay Flowers (shoulder), defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike (season-ending neck injury), middle linebacker Roquan Smith (hamstring), cornerback Marlon Humphrey (calf), outside linebackers Kyle Van Noy (hamstring) and Tavious Robinson (broken foot), defensive tackle Broderick Washington (ankle) and nose tackle Travis Jones (knee).

So, was this really a football team or a M*A*S*H unit?

“We can talk about the injuries of things that are within control and outside of your control,” Elliott said. “And that’s our approach is, from a soft tissue standpoint, looking at ways to progress them in terms of volume and intensity. Like you said, we had some injuries early in the year, but they subsided, and guys came back from the injury.”

So, it really was just a fluke?

“Yeah, you could call it a fluke,” Elliott said. “I mean, you look over the year, and you’ll see trends. You also see pockets of injuries that are common throughout the league that maybe weren’t the case the year before. You can call it a fluke, but you can also just call it a physical game where things happen, and you got to navigate it and then get back on the field.”

The Ravens are only in Phase 1. Phase 2 involves on-field workouts for individual and group drills. Phase 3 begins in May and allows for 10 organized team practices without live contact. Elliott, though, gave as much of an update on Madubuike as possible without going into detail.

“Beeks is working his tail off, and as I’m sure you seen him online, he is in great shape,” Elilott said.

He also had a high regard for recently acquired outside linebacker Trey Hendrickson.

“An elite physical specimen paired with an elite human being,” Elliott said. “We just finished the third day this morning, getting to see those traits on display and any specific drill we’ve put that group through, you see why he’s been so successful and gives you a lot of encouragement about what’s next.”

It sounds like the Ravens are Team Harmony, but that’s a plus so early in the season. For two straight years, Jackson forfeited $750,000 because he did not attend at least 80% of the team’s voluntary workouts. The Ravens went 12-5 and won the AFC North in 2024, but they finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs last year.

But at least now, Jackson is in camp and working hard, according to Elliott. Maybe it’s because the Ravens have a new coach, Jesse Minter, and an offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle. The next step for Jackson is to get in shape for the regular season, rather than having to play his way through conditioning in the first three or four games. He could do well in Doyle’s West Coast offense.

So far, though, it’s about work ethic and desire. A possible new contract is in the future. For now, Jackson has taken the right step in the right direction.

The Pope is in The Castle.

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