Getty Patriots' J.C. Jackson, reportedly won't be joining the team on its trip to Germany
It’s not like the Patriots were unaware that defensive back J.C. Jackson has issues with details like being on time and showing up where he’s supposed to show up. After all, he had spent the first four years of his career in New England before signing a five-year, $82.5 million megadeal with the Chargers last offseason.
But just a month after the Patriots made a trade to bring him back to the team after only one year in Los Angeles, it seems the Patriots are fed up with J.C. Jackson, too.
New details from SI.com NFL insider Albert Breer reveal that Jackson was held out at the start of last week’s game against the Commanders because he had issues being timely. And as Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network noted, the Patriots will not be taking Jackson to Germany for Sunday’s game against the Colts.
Patriots CB JC Jackson was late to the team hotel on Saturday, per sources, which was a part of why he started Sunday’s game vs. the Commanders on the bench. Now, as @RapSheet said, Jackson won’t be making the trip to Germany.
Reliability issues have long plagued Jackson.
“Patriots CB J.C. Jackson was late to the team hotel on Saturday, per sources, which was a part of why he started Sunday’s game vs. the Commanders on the bench. Now, as @RapSheet said, Jackson won’t be making the trip to Germany. Reliability issues have long plagued Jackson,” Breer wrote on Twitter (X).
Patriots’ J.C. Jackson Nosedived After Mega-Contract
By early this season, it was clear that the Patriots’ old J.C. Jackson was not the same player he had been early in his career, when a hungry Jackson forced his way into the Patriots secondary rotation after going undrafted out of Maryland in 2016.
During that time, Jackson showed himself to be among the best ball-hawks in the NFL, with 25 interceptions in his first four seasons. That included nine picks in 2020 and eight in 2021. That season, he also earned a spot in the Pro Bowl and led the league in passes defended, with 23.
Those were the kinds of numbers the Chargers thought they were getting when they gave Jackson the $82 million contract. Instead, Jackson’s game devolved and he consistently became a healthy scratch for L.A. He played just seven games for the Chargers and was paid $38.5 million on his enormous deal before Los Angeles agreed to send him to the Patriots for a seventh/sixth-round pick swap.
An ESPN report on the fiasco, in which a Chargers source called Jackson’s approach, “lackadaisical” went so far as to say GM Tom Telesco apologized to the team’s defensive backs for the Jackson move.
“Telesco told the group that signing Jackson was a mistake, according to multiple team sources. He apologized for continuing to give Jackson opportunities, despite Jackson routinely showing that he wasn’t as committed as the rest of the team while being one of the Chargers’ highest paid players,” Kris Rihm reported.
Bill Belichick Mum on ‘Benchings’
After the stunning loss to the Commanders, a team that appeared to be heading toward sending the season into tank mode when it traded its top two pass rushers (Montez Sweat and Chase Young), coach Bill Belichick offered only characteristically vague answers on why the Patriots did not have J.C. Jackson (as well as defensive back Jack Jones) starting the game.
Asked whether they’d been benched, Belichick replied, “No.”
He then added, “Everybody played. They all played.”
Belichick was asked if there were disciplinary reasons for Jones not starting.
“We played all the corners,” he said. “We played all the safeties. Really, we played everyone on the defense.”
That included in Week 9. But for the Patriots in Week 10, it will be a different story.