New York Giants cornerback Adoree’ Jackson has come a long way since being released by the Tennessee Titans prior to the 2021 season.
Jackson and incoming Titans head coach Mike Vrabel didn’t see eye-to-eye and that ultimately led to a parting of ways. It wasn’t one of Jackson’s finer moments but it’s also not one he looks back on with regret. Life, both inside and outside of the NFL, is a learning process and how you handle things in the future is determined by how you handled them in the past.
In 2022, Jackson had an opportunity for a do-over of sorts.
General manager Dave Gettleman “retired” and head coach Joe Judge was fired. That meant a whole new coaching staff was inbound and for Jackson, everything circled back around on him.
“My first year at (Tennessee), I had (Mike) Mularkey, Dick LeBeau, Deshea Townsend as my coaches. The next year, everybody gets fired, and I get a whole new staff,” Jackson told Charlotte Carroll of The Athletic. “So at that time, I didn’t really know much about, you know, how people say, ‘When a new coach comes in, they bring a new mentality, or they bring in the players that they want,’ which is true. But at the end of the day, you have to be open and accept everything that is there. Being young, not knowing what to expect from that, not knowing how to understand and manage that.
“And this year, having that experience again, I just feel like the Lord put me through that test again to see how I would respond. And I feel like understanding that and having these coaches letting us be ourselves and letting us play with swagger and instilling confidence in us . . . I feel like that helped not just me as a player but us as a team just do great things in the season.”
Jackson quickly developed a much closer relationship with Daboll than he had Vrabel. Part of that was due to Daboll’s player-friendly personality and part of it was how a more mature Jackson handled the entire situation.
“I feel like the first time, not knowing what to expect, I still went in there and worked. But at that time, just trying to, I would say, just do the right things as in just try to do everything right and not be myself,” Jackson said. “This time come around, I don’t want to say not care, but really just knowing who I am as a player and as a person and I’m just gonna be me. And at the end of the day, if you do that, they’re gonna love it and respect it or they’re not. And I feel like they did, and that helped me a lot but helped us as a collective do great things.”
When Daboll won the AP Coach of the Year Award at the NFL Honors earlier this month, Jackson was right there to support him. And to rib him a little bit.
“You know, we were just talking trash to each other. That’s what we do. That’s how our relationship is,” Jackson said. “We were just talking about his bald head.
“I was glad to see him smiling, his wife was there, and (to see them) enjoy that moment together. That was awesome.”
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