Lamar Jackson Out 6 to 9 Weeks After Thumb Injury but Plans to Return, Putting Jacoby Brissett in Charge for Ravens

A week ago the Ravens were bracing for a season without their quarterback. Now they have a target date. Lamar Jackson is expected to miss six to nine weeks after fracturing and dislocating his right thumb, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Sunday, and the former MVP has told teammates he intends to play again this season.

That changes the math for the Baltimore Ravens. When Jackson went down on the first snap of the 36-10 loss in Buffalo, head coach Jesse Minter said the needed surgery could potentially end the year, and Undrafted reported it that way on Nov. 4. The new timeline, first reported by Rapoport and laid out by NFL.com (opens in a new tab), turns the next stretch into a holding pattern with a clear goal: keep the season alive until Jackson can get back.

The message to the locker room

According to Rapoport, Jackson spoke to teammates within a day of the injury and told them he plans to return. Rapoport paraphrased the message as "Just stay alive."

Jackson was placed on injured reserve last week. Rapoport reported that Jackson is having surgery to repair the thumb, but the team has not confirmed it. Minter declined Thursday night to say whether Jackson had undergone the procedure, and on Monday he made clear that updates will not come from his podium.

"I'm going to keep most of the conversations between Lamar and I," Minter told BaltimoreRavens.com (opens in a new tab). "Nobody wants to be on the field more. He's probably going to do everything he can to put himself in position."

Brissett's job just got clearer

The timeline also defines the role of Jacoby Brissett. Arizona announced the trade on Friday, Nov. 6, with Baltimore sending a 2027 fourth-round pick and a 2028 seventh-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for Brissett and a 2027 fifth, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. The move came after Tyler Huntley went on injured reserve with a toe injury expected to end his season and undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano was forced into duty. The Ravens had already signed Kedon Slovis and brought back Austin Reed to fill out the room.

Brissett is no longer a bridge to nowhere. He is the starter for roughly the next month and a half, and his assignment is to hand Jackson a team still in the race. The 33-year-old started all eight of Arizona's games this season, completing 63.3% of his passes for 1,719 yards with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions before the Cardinals turned to Gardner Minshew.

Minter sounded confident in the fit. "I think he'll operate our offense at a level required to be successful," Minter said Monday. "He'll get the ball out on time. He'll be able to run the whole thing. He'll be a leader. He'll hold guys accountable."

The hole Baltimore has to climb out of

The Ravens are 4-5 and last in the AFC North after four straight losses. The latest was a 33-10 defeat to Jacksonville last Thursday in which Fagnano, playing on a heavily wrapped ankle, completed 10 of 18 passes for 60 yards with two interceptions. Baltimore has been held under 14 points in four consecutive games, a franchise first, and has lost three straight by 20 or more.

Jackson started five games and finished only three, missing three weeks with an ankle sprain before the thumb injury. Baltimore is 1-4 since the start of Week 5, a stretch in which Jackson took one snap. In limited action Jackson has completed 68 of 97 passes for 967 yards, six touchdowns and one interception, with 144 rushing yards and a score.

A schedule that leaves a window

The good news for Baltimore is the next month. The Ravens host the winless Los Angeles Chargers (0-8) on Monday Night Football on Nov. 16 at M&T Bank Stadium, then visit Carolina on Nov. 22 and Houston on Nov. 29. After a Week 13 bye, they host Tampa Bay on Dec. 13.

Then the division arrives all at once: at Pittsburgh on Dec. 20, home against Cleveland on Dec. 27, at Cincinnati on Thursday, Dec. 31, and home against Pittsburgh in Week 18. As BaltimoreRavens.com noted, a six-week recovery would put Jackson in line for the start of that AFC North run, while nine weeks would point toward the finale against the Steelers.

What it means

The Ravens do not need Brissett to be Jackson. They need him to avoid the turnovers and empty possessions that have defined the last month, and to win enough of the next four games to make a return worth the risk. If Baltimore is at .500 or better by mid-December, a healthy Jackson walking into a four-game division sprint becomes a real AFC subplot. If not, his vow may arrive after the season has slipped away.

Sources: NFL.com, NFL Network, BaltimoreRavens.com, ESPN, The Associated Press, TSN and theScore.

Photo: Shawn Hubbard/Baltimore Ravens (file photo from October 2026 practice).