The Washington football team signs the former Bengals corner William Jackson III, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets which will be a three-year, $ 42 million pact with $ 26 million in guaranteed money.
This places Jackson in the top 10 of the corner market in terms of AAV. The first team of 2016 has proven to be a strong corner during its first years in the league and although it has yet to win a Pro Bowl, it could receive these honors in the near future. He missed his entire rookie campaign due to injury and started just five games in his second professional season, but between 2017 and 20 he added 41 defending passes and three selections and qualified as the 20th best CB in Pro Football Focus (out of 121 ranked) last season.
It will serve as a worthy substitute for Ronald Darby – who yesterday agreed a free agent deal with the Broncos – and will join Kendall Fuller to provide WFT with a strong initial tandem in the corner position. The club were fantastic against last season, so maintaining a 1-2 quality hit at the borders was a key part of their bet on play-back appearances.
Although Jackson had previously expressed his desire to remain in Cincinnati for the long term, the writing was on the wall when the club agreed to sign Mike Hilton i Chidobe Awuzie rather today. Jackson is probably better than both players, but the combined AAV of Hilton and Awuzie is almost the same as that of Jackson, so the Bengals saw an opportunity to acquire two quality headlines for the price of one.
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