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The Chicago Bears gave Eddie Jackson a four-year, $58.4 million contract extension after the 2019 season, making him the highest paid safety in the league at the time.
The move came a year after Jackson’s incredible All-Pro campaign in 2018, when the fourth-round pick out of Alabama had 15 passes defensed, two forced fumbles, six interceptions, and three defensive scores, which led the NFL. He also made the Pro Bowl that year, and again in 2019, despite a statistical drop-off.
Jackson earned a 93.2 overall grade from Pro Football Focus in 2018, allowing a passer rating of 54.9 to opposing quarterbacks, but those numbers have gotten worse every year since. In 2019, he had two interceptions and his overall grade from PFF dropped to 67.0, although he still allowed a respectable passer rating of 69.1. It got worse in 2020, when his overall grade fell to 59.8, and quarterbacks had a collective passer rating of 140.5 when throwing his way. He also finished his 2020 campaign without an interception, and unfortunately, he has looked bad in two of Chicago’s three games so far this season.
After another poor showing in Chicago’s Week 3 loss to the Cleveland Browns, Bears secondary coach Deshea Townsend isn’t shying away from calling Jackson out a bit.
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Townsend on Jackson: He ‘Can Improve on His Approach’
Jackson has had glaringly bad missed tackles in both of the Bears’ losses this season. He did this against the L.A. Rams Week 1:
And this against the Browns Week 3:
Unlike Bears head coach Matt Nagy, who has said Jackson — a veteran — will use his gaffes this year as “learning lessons,” Townsend held Jackson more accountable.
“Technique-wise (Jackson) can improve on his approach at that moment,” Townsend said, via Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic. “You know we do certain drills where we say same for the same shoulder and he closed on the running back the proper way. He’s just got to square him up and find a way of getting him down. … We have to win our point-of-attacks, and that’s how we get graded. So, Eddie knows he has to make that tackle. Like, that’s our job. … Next time he’ll make it.”
Jackson Vowed to Improve His Tackling This Offseason
After his down year in 2020, Jackson has been saying all the right things. “I hold myself to a higher standard,” Jackson said at the start of this season, per Patrick Finley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “Everyone here does the same. So I’m just going to go with [saying I had] a bad year. It was down. Even though they took away the touchdowns, I feel like there were some things I could have done better [rather] than just sitting up here trippin’ over two touchdowns that got called back. I’ve got to tackle, still break on the ball, break up passes and stuff like that.”
While he was good Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals, forcing one of the team’s four turnovers, Jackson has 49 missed tackles in 65 career games, and it remains a huge, glaring problem for him as a player — and for this defense.
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