Last season, the Washington Football Team under head coach Ron Rivera and defense coordinator Jack Del Rio finished third in Football Outsiders’ Defensive DVOA benchmark, and second only to the Steelers on the pass. Cornerbacks Kendall Fuller, Ronald Darby, Fabian Moreau and Jimmy Moreland allowed a total of nine touchdowns and seven distinctions, and with Darby joining the Broncos on a three-year, $ 30 million deal, it was time for reinforcements.
Instead of an average reinforcement, the football team agreed to discuss the best corner in the 2021 freestyle class and one of the top five in NFL coverage. The former Bengals defender, William Jackson, becomes the latest corner of the football team when the league year turns over at 16:00 ET, and he could be the one to move Washington’s defense from No. 2 to No. 2. 1 will take. Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Washington leaves Jackson on a $ 42 million deal for three years with a guaranteed $ 26 million. This is CB2 money for a CB1, this is where the A + degree comes in.
Last season, in a Bengal defense that helped no one from a schematic point of view, Jackson allowed 36 receptions on 69 targets for 537 yards, 169 yards to catch, three touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent’s score of 86.4. But if Jackson is used in ways that show the best skills, he is a force to be reckoned with.
Last May, I considered Jackson the NFL’s ninth best cornerback in men’s coverage, and here’s what I wrote about him at the time:
In Cincinnati’s defense in Cincinnati in 2019 did not do much right, but Jackson was a rare standout in a positive sense. Although he struggled with injuries in the second half of the season, an outstanding boundary corner that was sometimes negatively affected by an awkward safety test, Jackson looked more comfortable if he could just erase his target on his own. Last season, Jackson did once allow in men’s coverage (which the Bengals used on only 33% of their snaps), but apart from that, he only gave up 10 catches on 28 targets for 159 yards, and a positive playing pace of 32.1% – good for the fourth best in the league.
Well, at least Jackson was a stalwart in this regard in 2020, though Cincinnati’s coverage was still quite a few sad trombones, as it was usually under defense coordinator Lou Anarumo. Unless you believe it’s a big deal to go from the 29th in the pass defense DVOA in 2019 to the 27th in 2020.
Be that as it may, Jackson was targeted 40 times in 227 man-coverage in 2020, allowing only 15 receptions for 187 yards, and a positive play rate of 32.5%, finishing fourth among cornerbacks with at least 25 targets in men’s coverage. Consistent? It’s great in a place where you can get to the dark side very quickly. Jackson is also a pretty decent cornerback – he allowed 16 rounds on 27 targets for 292 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and a positive play rate of 44.4%.
Jackson is not really a bail-and-rail borderline in the traditional sense – he’s rather the man you want to push against his receiver and follow all the way. Much better in man and match than spot-drop zone. If you play him off the cover, you can finish things like this 50-yard finish from Deshaun Watson to Brandin Cooks against the Texans in Week 16.
(No, I’m also not entirely sure what the security on Jackson’s side did here).
Here, from the same game, is how you want Jackson to work: the corresponding receiver Chad Hansen step-by-step from the start of the route and almost comes up with the choice as he breaks down to the ball.
It’s not easy to find a great cornerback, and even harder to find a cornerback who has Jackson’s consistency from year to year. He will be paid highly for this reason alone, and do not be surprised if the football team – which last season played a man on only 24% of their defensive grips, but allowed an EPA per game of -0.26, the third best in the league – do not use more Cover-0, Cover-1 and 2-Man in the 2021 season and beyond.