Last season, under head coach Ron Rivera and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, the Washington football team ranked third in the DVOA Defensive Football Outsiders metric and second only to the Steelers. Corners Kendall Fuller, Ronald Darby, Fabian Moreau and Jimmy Moreland allowed a total of nine touchdowns and seven interceptions, and Darby left for the Broncos with a three-year deal of $ 30 million, it was time for reinforcements.
Instead of an average reinforcement, the football team agreed to the terms with the best corner defender in the free agency class of 2021 and one of the five best cover defenders in the NFL. Former Bengali defender William Jackson will become the newest defender on the football team when the league year turns 16:00 ET and he may be the only guy to defend Washington from No. 2 to No. 1. Ian Rapoport of the NFL, Washington takes on Jackson in a three-year, $ 42 million deal, backed by $ 26 million. This is the CB2 money for a CB1, where the A + note comes in.
Last season, in a Bengals defense that didn’t help anyone schematically, Jackson allowed 36 receptions on 69 targets for 537 yards, 169 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, an interception and an opponent’s rating of 86.4. But when Jackson is used in ways that best show his skill set, he is a force to be reckoned with.
Last May, I ranked Jackson as the NFL’s ninth-best men’s quarterback, and here’s what I wrote about him back then:
Not much happened for Cincinnati’s bottom defense in 2019, but Jackson was a rare player in a positive way. Although he struggled with injuries in the second half of the season, a remarkable corner defender who was sometimes negatively affected by an amazing aspect of safety “help”, Jackson seemed more comfortable when he could erase his own goal. Last season, Jackson allowed a single touchdown in covering the men (which the Bengals used only for 33% of their catches), but in addition, he gave up just 10 catches on 28 targets for 159 meters. and a positive game rate of 32.1% – good for the fourth best in the league.
Well, at least Jackson was strong in that regard in 2020, although Cincinnati’s coverage was still a lot of sad trombone, as he was generally under defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. Unless you think the transition from 29 in DVOA pass defense in 2019 to 27 in 2020 is a big deal, which I don’t think.
In any case, Jackson was targeted 40 times in 227 men’s snapshot coverage in 2020, allowing only 15 receptions for 187 yards and a positive play rate of 32.5%, which ranked fourth among defenders. with at least 25 targets in coverage with men. Consistent? Admirably, in a position where you can quickly find yourself on the dark side quite quickly. Jackson is also a pretty decent corner – allowed 16 finishes on 27 goals for 292 yards, two touchdowns, an interception and a positive play rate of 44.4%.
Jackson isn’t really a “bail-and-trail” corner in the traditional sense – he’s more of the guy you want to stick to his receiver and still follow the route to the end. Much better in person and at the match than on the spot. If you play it outside the cover, you can get to things like this 50-meter finish from Deshaun Watson to Brandin Cooks against the Texans in week 16.
(No, I’m not sure what Jackson’s safety was doing here).
Here’s the same game, how you want Jackson to work: Matching receiver Chad Hansen step by step from the beginning of the route and almost comes with the selection as he breaks the ball.
It is not easy to find great corners for men and even more difficult to find corners that have the consistency of Jackson from year to year. He will be highly paid just for that reason and don’t be surprised if the football team – which played men’s coverage in just 24% of their defensive catches last season but allowed an EPA per game of -0.26, the third best in the league – does not use more Cover-0, Cover-1 and 2-Man in the 2021 season and beyond.