Last season, under head coach Ron Rivera and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, the Washington football team ranked third in the Football Outsiders defensive DVOA 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 with Darby in the Broncos in a three-year, $ 30 million deal, it was time for reinforcements.
Instead of a midfielder, the football team agreed to the terms with the best corner in the 2021 free agency category and one of the five corners with the best coverage in the NFL. Former Bengals defender William Jackson will become the last corner of the football team when the league year turns at 4pm ET, and he could be the only one to lead the Washington defense from number 2 to number 1. Ian NFL Network Report, Washington captures Jackson in a $ 42 million three-year deal with $ 26 million guaranteed. This is CB2 money for a CB1, which is where the A + rating comes in.
Last season, in a Bengals defense that didn’t help anyone from a schematic standpoint, Jackson allowed 36 receptions at 69 goals for 537 yards, 169 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, an interception and an opponent passer score of 86.4. But when Jackson is used in ways that best show his skills, it’s a force to be reckoned with.
Last May, I ranked Jackson as the NFL’s ninth-best men’s cornerback, and that’s what I wrote about him back then:
It didn’t go very well for Cincinnati’s fund defense in 2019, but Jackson was a rare highlight in a positive sense. Although he struggled with injuries in the second half of the season, a prominent corner of the border who was sometimes negatively affected by some puzzling security “help” looks, Jackson seemed more comfortable when he could only erase the goal on your own. Last season, Jackson allowed a touchdown in man coverage (which the Bengals used only 33% of their snapshots), but other than that, he gave up just 10 catches in 28 goals for 159 yards. and a positive play rate of 32.1%: Good for the fourth-best in the league.
Well, at least Jackson was strong in that regard in 2020, even though Cincinnati’s coverage was still a sad trombone, as he’s generally been under defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. Unless you think going from 29th in defense of the last DVOA in 2019 to 27th in 2020 is a big big thing, which I don’t.
In any case, Jackson was targeted 40 times in 227 men’s coverage snapshots in 2020, allowing just 15 receptions for 187 yards and a positive play rate of 32.5%, ranking fourth among the corners with at least 25 targets in man coverage. Consistent? It is admirable, in a position where you can quickly find yourself on the dark side. Jackson is also a pretty decent zone corner: he allowed 16 accomplishments in 27 goals over 292 yards, two touchdowns, an interception and a positive play rate of 44.4%.
Jackson isn’t really a limiting corner of “bail and crawl” in the traditional sense; it’s more the type you want the receiver to face and follow the route to the end. Much better in man and match than the point drop zone. If you play it out of coverage, you’ll end up with things like this 50-yard finish from Deshaun Watson to Brandin Cooks against the Texans in Week 16.
(No, I’m not sure what security was doing on Jackson’s side here either).
Here, from the game itself, is how you want Jackson to operate: matching receiver Chad Hansen step by step from the start of the route and almost reaching the selection as he breaks the ball.
It’s not easy to find great corner men, and even harder to find corner men who have Jackson’s consistency year after year. Just for that reason it will be highly paid and don’t be surprised if the football team, which played men’s coverage with only 24% of its defensive catches last season but allowed an EPA per play of -0, 26, the third best in the league: no longer uses Cover-0, Cover-1 and 2-Man during the 2021 season and later.