Lamar Jackson’s Medial Ankle Sprain: What the NFL MVP’s Injury Teaches Every Athlete

Lamar Jackson, the Baltimore Ravens’ two-time NFL MVP quarterback, sprained his left ankle on the final play of the first half of the Ravens’ 24-18 win over the Tennessee Titans on October 4, 2026. Defensive lineman Jermaine Johnson II tackled him on the play, and the ankle twisted. Jackson left the stadium in a walking boot, underwent an MRI on October 5, missed every practice that week and was officially ruled out for the Ravens’ Week 5 game against the Atlanta Falcons on October 11, with Tyler Huntley starting in his place.

The reporting is more specific than most ankle-sprain news: multiple outlets, including The Athletic, describe Jackson as dealing with a medial ankle sprain — neither a “low” (lateral) sprain nor a “high” (syndesmotic) one. Medial ankle sprains are the least common and least talked-about of the three types, but they deserve your attention. Here is what the condition is, why it can linger in cutting and pivoting athletes, and how it is treated.

What Is a Medial Ankle Sprain?

Your ankle joint is stabilized by three groups of ligaments: on the outside of the ankle (the lateral ligament complex), on the inside (the deltoid ligament), and above the joint connecting the two shin bones (the syndesmosis — the “high” ankle sprain). A medial ankle sprain injures the deltoid ligament, a strong, fan-shaped band of tissue that runs from the inner ankle bone — the medial malleolus, the end of the tibia — to the talus, calcaneus and navicular bones of the foot.

The deltoid ligament is the strongest ligament in the ankle, which is why medial sprains are uncommon. Most ankle sprains — roughly 85 percent, by established sports-medicine literature — injure the ligaments on the outside of the ankle. When an injury is strong enough to tear the deltoid ligament, it is often severe, and it is more likely than a lateral sprain to occur together with an ankle fracture. That combination makes careful evaluation important, not optional.

How Medial Ankle Sprains Happen

The typical mechanism is an eversion injury: the foot rotates outward relative to the leg, or something forces the heel inward so the inner side of the ankle is stretched. In football, that happens when a tackler’s weight collapses onto a planted leg or the ankle gets rolled under a pile — the exact scenario Johnson’s tackle created. Away from the field, the same mechanism shows up everywhere our Southwest Florida patients do: a pickleball lunge with the foot planted, an awkward golf swing on uneven ground, a misstep off a curb while walking.

Because the deltoid ligament rarely fails alone, a medial sprain is a signal to check the whole ankle: the joint surface, the fibula on the other side, and the bones the ligament anchors to.

Symptoms: What a Medial Ankle Sprain Feels Like

• Swelling and tenderness on the inside of the ankle, along the inner ankle bone and down toward the arch.
• Pain when the foot is rotated outward or with push-off, cutting and pivoting.
• Bruising along the inside of the ankle and sometimes into the arch.
• A limp or difficulty bearing weight, especially on stairs and uneven surfaces.

Certain findings change the plan immediately: inability to bear weight for several steps, tenderness directly on either ankle bone, deformity, or numbness in the foot. Those point toward fracture or nerve involvement and need imaging — the same logic that had Jackson in an MRI the day after his injury.

How It’s Diagnosed

Diagnosis starts with a hands-on exam: where the ankle is tender, whether the ligaments are stable when stressed, and whether weight-bearing is possible. X-rays follow — not to see the sprain (ligaments don’t show on X-ray) but to rule out the fractures that medial sprains commonly accompany. When the exam suggests a significant ligament injury, an MRI maps the deltoid ligament and shows whether it is stretched, partially torn or completely torn, and whether cartilage or other structures are involved.

Sprains are graded by severity: Grade 1 (stretched, mild swelling), Grade 2 (partial tear, moderate swelling and limp) and Grade 3 (complete tear, marked swelling and instability). Jackson’s team called him day-to-day early in the week and indicated the injury should not keep him out long-term, which is consistent with a moderate sprain — but the definitive grading is private medical information, and recovery timelines can only be projected, not guaranteed.

Treatment: Conservative Care First, Surgery Rarely

Almost all medial ankle sprains are treated without surgery, in stages:

1. Protect and settle (first days): relative rest, ice, compression, elevation and anti-inflammatory measures as tolerated. A walking boot — the protective boot Jackson was seen in — unloads the healing ligament while keeping the ankle mobile enough to prevent stiffness.
2. Restore motion (first weeks): gentle range-of-motion work, then progressive weight-bearing as pain allows, sometimes with a lace-up brace for support.
3. Rebuild strength and balance: the deltoid ligament heals with scar tissue, so proprioception (balance) training and strengthening of the calf and the tibialis posterior muscle are what actually prevent re-injury.
4. Return to sport by milestones, not by calendar: pain-free walking, then a single-leg heel raise, then hopping, then cutting. Custom orthotics and bracing can support the arch and protect the repaired ligament through the return.

Surgery is uncommon and reserved for specific situations: a deltoid ligament tear with a displaced ankle fracture that needs open repair, chronic instability after a severe tear, or a ligament that heals scarred into the joint (medial impingement) and keeps catching. When those problems develop, reconstructive foot and ankle surgery — the kind board-certified podiatric surgeons perform every week — restores stability, but it is a far bigger undertaking than the six-week boot-and-rehab path.

How Long Recovery Takes

Grade 1 sprains typically settle in 1–3 weeks. Grade 2 sprains — the likely territory for an NFL MVP to miss a game over — generally take 3–6 weeks or more, and grade 3 injuries can take 2–3 months. The honest caveat: medial sprains in cutting athletes can outlast lateral sprains of the same grade, because push-off loads the healing ligament on nearly every step. That is why returning “when the pain fades” is not the standard — the standard is strength, balance and cutting tests that prove the ankle is ready.

Southwest Florida’s Ankle Sprain and Sports Injury Experts

Family Foot & Leg Center, PA has treated Southwest Florida’s foot and ankle injuries since 2005, with 9 locations from Marco Island to Sarasota — Naples, Estero, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Port Charlotte and Sarasota. Our team is led by Dr. Kevin Lam, DPM, FACFAS, DABLES, DABPS, Clinical Director, board-certified in foot surgery and reconstructive rearfoot and ankle surgery, named among America’s Top Podiatrists, and director of a foot and ankle surgical fellowship.

We treat the full ladder of ankle injuries Jackson’s case represents:

• Foot and ankle trauma and urgent care — sprains, fractures and dislocations, with same-day appointments for acute injuries and in-office digital imaging.
• Conservative sports medicine — bracing, physical-therapy guidance, custom orthotics and return-to-sport testing for pickleball, golf, running and tennis.
• Reconstructive ankle surgery — including ligament reconstruction, fracture care and second opinions on recommended fusions or replacements.

Whether your ankle got rolled in a weekend pickleball match or on the last step of a staircase, the fastest route back is an accurate diagnosis early — before compensation patterns turn a six-week injury into a six-month one.

Sources: CBS Sports, “Ravens rule out Lamar Jackson for Week 5 matchup vs. Falcons,” October 9, 2026; The Athletic, Week 5 fantasy injuries report, October 11, 2026. This article is educational and does not replace individual medical evaluation; Jackson’s exact injury grade is not publicly known.

Reviewed by Dr. Kevin Lam, DPM, FACFAS — Founder and Clinical Director, Family Foot & Leg Center, PA. Follow FFLC on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Related reading:

• High Ankle Sprain vs Regular Sprain: 2026 Signs
• Nathan Cleary’s Ankle Fracture-Dislocation: What It Teaches Every Athlete
• Broken Ankle: What a Fracture Means and How It’s Treated
• Dislocated Ankle Fracture Treatment: Cast vs Surgery