After playing college football for the Air Force Falcons, defensive lineman Jordan Jackson was picked by the New Orleans Saints in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL draft. He spent his rookie season on the Saints’ practice squad and then signed a deal with the Denver Broncos in 2023.
Jackson (6-4, 294 pounds) failed to make Denver’s 53-man roster last summer but he was signed to the practice squad, where he spent the entire 2023 campaign. Jackson returned this year and impressed in preseason and won a spot on the active roster ahead of the 2024 season.
“We saw development,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said last week. “If we’re charting the early part of his pro career, we just saw a tick up. We saw it in practice, we saw it in the game. I would say we’re a little bit more one-gap driven now. I think that’s benefited him. In other words, he can get to an edge. So we were encouraged. He wasn’t a borderline decision.”
Jackson totaled two sacks in the team’s preseason finale, a performance that pleased general manager George Paton.
“Jordan has really improved since we got him, and I would say he’s gotten stronger,” Paton said last week. “He’s always had the athletic ability. He was a [project] of mine when he was at Air Force. We were going to draft him, but the Saints took him. So we monitored him, and then obviously we were able to get him on our roster. Again he’s been athletic.
“He could always rush, and now he’s gotten stronger, playing with better leverage and learning the defense more. He really fits what Vance [Joseph] is doing up front. He got better really each and every preseason game, and then obviously finished with a bang. [I] love the way he goes about his business. [He’s] smart, tough, athletic and I think he can keep getting better.”
Listed behind Zach Allen, D.J. Jones, John Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach on the depth chart, Jackson will begin the season as a rotational backup defensive lineman. The first step was making the 53-man roster. Now he has to prove he can make an impact on game days. Paton and Payton are confident Jackson will reward their confidence in him.
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