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The Josh Jackson project has come to a halt in East Rutherford. The New York Giants waived the four-year pro on Tuesday, October 27th alongside a flurry of other moves that included placing starting safety Jabrill Peppers on injured reserve and adding defensive back J.R. Reed to their active roster.
Acquired in an August 17th trade with the Green Bay Packers, Jackson was flipped for fellow cornerback Isaac Yiadom who had started 10 games for the Giants the season prior. Yiadom has continued to struggle in coverage in his new digs, posting an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 41.9 over seven games (one start) this season. However, at least he’s managed to see the field, something that can’t be said about Jackson.
The former second-round pick did deal with a calf injury towards the latter end of camp, but by all accounts was healthy enough to play during the regular season — the Giants just chose not to do so. Per The Athletic’s Dan Duggan, Jackson was a “healthy scratch” for the first seven games of 2021. This, despite the fact that Rodarius Williams was lost for the year with a torn ACL, third-rounder Aaron Robinson has yet to make his NFL debut and Darnay Holmes has resided in the doghouse for the majority of his second pro campaign.
From College Football’s Top Defensive Back to Out of a Job
A former Unanimous All-American selection out of Iowa and the recipient of the 2017 Jack Tatum Trophy award (top collegiate defensive back), the hope in New York was that a change of scenery could help Jackson realize his once-lauded potential — that clearly didn’t happen.
While he remains a candidate to return to the G-Men’s practice squad should he clear waivers, Jackson looks to have quickly become an afterthought in New York’s secondary.
After showing some promise in his 10 starts as a rookie, Jackson has mostly been relegated to a backup role, starting only five of his past 26 game appearances since the 2019 season. Over that span, he’s averaged an overall PFF grade of 56.2.
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James Bradberry Gets Revenge on His Former Team
In other cornerback news, Giants Pro Bowler James Bradberry got some revenge this past weekend when he helped hand his former team the Carolina Panthers their fourth consecutive loss. Bradberry came up with his third interception of the season and played a pivotal part in limiting Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold to just 111 passing yards on the day.
“It feels good to get an interception against those guys. (Panthers Linebacker) Shaq Thompson was on the sideline talking trash the whole time to me every time I lined up to their side. So, it definitely felt good to throw it in his face and get an interception,” Bradberry said laughing. “Like I said before, a lot of the guys, personnel wise, they’re with (The Washington Football Team) now. They’re not even there anymore. I didn’t have any animosity toward the coaches.”
As for the Giants’ defense as a whole, the unit has been subject to plenty of criticism this season. After finishing as a top-12 total defense a season ago, they’ve dropped to 20th in 2021.
“We took it personal, like you said. We’re a defense, and our goal is to stop them from scoring,” Bradberry told reporters after the game of the unit’s recent struggles. “We hadn’t been doing that the past few weeks. Our goal today was to come out here and play strong every series. I think we did a good job of doing that, so we’re definitely happy with our results.”