Former Ravens OC denies wanting to move Lamar Jackson to WR

The Baltimore Ravens issued statements from former offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and current head coach John Harbaugh on Tuesday disputing suggestions Mornhinweg was intent on moving quarterback Lamar Jackson to wide receiver in 2018.

Former NFL GM Mike Lombardi said on Monday's edition of "The GM Shuffle" podcast that Mornhinweg asked his fellow coaches at one point in 2018, "When are we gonna move him to receiver?"

Mornhinweg explicitly denied Lombardi's account.

"That didn't happen. Never said that," Mornhinweg said. "My thoughts before the draft, and even more when we started working with Lamar, was that this young man was going to be a special quarterback. Very early we saw that along with all of his throwing and escape abilities, he reads the field as well as any young quarterback I ever worked with."

The Ravens announced in January they would not retain Mornhinweg and that Greg Roman would be promoted from assistant head coach to offensive coordinator as the team transitioned from Joe Flacco to Jackson at quarterback.

"Organizationally, we were on the same page with Lamar, and I thought (former general manager Ozzie Newsome) and (current GM Eric DeCosta) did a great job to take him where we did," said Harbaugh. "Marty was excited from the beginning to coach Lamar and was instrumental in helping him progress through his rookie season."

Jackson has taken the league by storm in his second NFL campaign and is a leading candidate in the MVP race.