FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts. New England Patriots quarterback JC Jackson, who was second in the NFL last season with nine interceptions, officially signed his second-round free agent bid Friday, according to a source.
The bidding turns Jackson into a one-year, $ 3.38 million contract for 2021, and he is expected to be an unrestricted free agent next low season.
The deadline for teams to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets is April 23, and other NFL people could soon follow Jackson’s leadership. Green Bay tight end Robert Tonyan, who was also bid in the second round after scoring 11 touchdowns last season, is one of the highlights.
One line of thinking was that players like Jackson and Tonyan could be interested in other teams, who could have signed them to offer sheets and then render a second-round draft pick if the players ’teams rejected the game.
But with a salary cap in the NFL, this season there hasn’t been much traction with the restricted free agent market.
Jackson, 25, has been a success story in New England after initially joining the team as an unwritten free agent outside of Maryland in 2018. He has played in 45 regular season games, with 22 starts, and has added 17 interceptions.