Lamar Jackson's thumb injury forces Ravens to injured reserve, clouds season

Lamar Jackson's season took another turn for the worse on Sunday when the Baltimore Ravens quarterback injured his throwing thumb on the first offensive snap of a 36-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills, an injury that will require surgery and send the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player to injured reserve for at least the next month. Head coach Jesse Minter confirmed the diagnosis afterward, and by Monday the team was already adjusting its depth chart for Thursday night's home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

A costly collision in Buffalo

The injury happened in the opening minutes at Highmark Stadium. On first-and-10, Jackson's right hand struck Bills edge rusher Gregory Rousseau as he released a pass toward receiver Zay Flowers. Jackson immediately showed signs of pain, jogged to the sideline and was taken to the locker room. He returned for the second half with a cast visible on his hand but did not play again, according to the Ravens' own account of the injury.

Minter did not hedge when asked about the severity of the injury. "That will be a surgery deal," he told reporters, confirming that Jackson will go under the knife and be placed on injured reserve. Pressed on whether the injury could end Jackson's season outright, the coach allowed that it was "potentially" possible, though the team has not yet made that determination public.

That will be a surgery deal.

An injured-reserve designation requires a player to sit out a minimum of four games. For Jackson, that stretch covers a Thursday night trip from the Jaguars to Baltimore in Week 9, a Week 10 visit from the Los Angeles Chargers, a Week 11 trip to Carolina and a Week 12 home game against Houston, followed by Baltimore's Week 13 bye. The earliest he could realistically return is Week 14, against Tampa Bay on Dec. 13, a date confirmed on the league's official game page for the Week 8 matchup in which Jackson was hurt.

A season already interrupted

Sunday's injury compounds a year that had already been disrupted. Jackson suffered a high-ankle sprain against the Tennessee Titans in early October, missed three games and had only just returned to the lineup the week before facing Buffalo. That meant he had played in just four games this season before Sunday's setback, and the earlier absence, combined with the new four-game minimum, pushes his total missed games this year to at least seven out of a 17-game regular season, with the possibility of more if the thumb does not heal as hoped.

The toll on Baltimore's offense has been stark. With Jackson under center for the season's first four games, the Ravens went 3-1 and averaged 29.8 points. In the three games he missed with the ankle injury, the team slipped to 1-2 and averaged just 17.7 points, a gap that underscores how much the offense is built around him. Durability concerns have shadowed stretches of Jackson's career even as he has twice been named the league's most valuable player.

A depth chart in crisis

Jackson's exit was only the first blow to Baltimore's quarterback room on Sunday. Backup Tyler Huntley, who entered after Jackson left, suffered his own injury — a sore toe that has raised the possibility of turf toe, though that has not been officially confirmed — and did not return for the second half. His availability for Thursday's game against Jacksonville remains uncertain, with four days to recover.

That forced undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano, who had led all NFL quarterbacks in preseason passing yardage with 509 yards, into his first regular-season action. Fagnano completed 10 of 21 passes for 91 yards, threw an interception and lost a fumble as Buffalo's pass rush harassed Baltimore's inexperienced quarterbacks for four sacks and 12 total quarterback hits. The Ravens finished with only 144 total yards of offense, 52 of them in the first half, a performance documented in the official box score from the game.

Complicating matters further, Baltimore's third quarterback on the roster, Skylar Thompson, is himself already on injured reserve, which means the team may need to sign a passer off the street or off another team's practice squad before Thursday's kickoff. Coverage from Yahoo Sports' report on the fallout noted that Minter had not settled on a starting plan as of Sunday night.

What's next for Baltimore

The loss dropped the Ravens to 4-4 and into last place in the AFC North, their third consecutive defeat. Pittsburgh sits atop the division at 6-2, with Cincinnati at 5-2 and Cleveland at 5-3, and Baltimore has already lost its head-to-head games against both the Bengals and the Browns this season, narrowing its margin for tiebreakers should the race stay tight. A CBS Sports analysis of the injury's fallout framed the next several weeks as a test of whether Baltimore's roster can tread water near .500 without its franchise quarterback before a potential Jackson return in December.

That test begins almost immediately. Jacksonville, at 5-2 after a 42-7 rout of Indianapolis, travels to Baltimore for Thursday night's game, giving the Ravens barely three days to sort out a quarterback situation that now includes an uncertain Huntley, an unproven Fagnano and the open question of a roster addition. Tight end Mark Andrews, speaking to reporters after Sunday's loss, noted simply that the team plays again in four days — a reminder that there will be little time to dwell on the latest injury before Baltimore must answer it on the field.

For Jackson, the more consequential clock is the one running toward a possible season-ending outcome. Baltimore has stopped short of declaring his year over, but the combination of a required surgery, a minimum four-game absence and a schedule that offers no easy stretch to rush him back means the Ravens are, for now, planning as though their quarterback may not throw another pass in 2026.