Lamar Jackson, 23, signs his first endorsement deal

Lamar Jackson is in good company as a newly-sponsored Oakley athlete. After his MVP season in addition to being a frequent wearer of the Oakley Football Shield on his helmet, the superstar quarterback earned himself an endorsement deal with the renowned company.

Jackson joins the likes of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Derwin James, and Patrick Mahomes as Oakley-sponsored NFL players. Jackson has been wearing Oakley shades since his early days of pop warner football. Jackson’s partnership with Oakley seems meant to be since he’s had a long history with the company and had a record-breaking MVP season whilst wearing the shades the entire time.

It was only a matter of time before Jackson earned himself a major endorsement deal. I find Oakley’s approach towards sponsoring superstar NFL players very interesting.

Oakley seems to be targeting the young, budding stars of the NFL rather than the already-established players. With the inclusion of Jackson, all of the sponsored players are under 25 years old. Smith-Schuster was the second NFL athlete who signed with Oakley after Mahomes. James followed shortly afterwards.

The addition of Jackson to an already-stacked group of Oakley athletes may set the standard for Oakley’s future endorsement deals. Depending on which young players show out, more endorsement contracts could be coming for certain players.

That being said, risks lie with some of these endorsement contracts. Both Derwin James and Juju Smith-Schuster encountered the injury bug this past season. In some ways, Oakley is betting on the futures of these youngsters without proving themselves on an annual basis. Regardless, I feel that James and Smith-Schuster are destined for bounce-back seasons while Jackson and Mahomes will continue their stardom.