Carolina Panthers cornerback Donte Jackson has never minced words over the three years we’ve come to know him. So the ones he put out there on Wednesday shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“We can be dominant. We can be dominant, man,” Jackson confidently said when asked about the team’s additions at the corner position. “We have a group that not only are we fighting hard to learn the scheme and have the scheme down pat, we’re also fighting hard to be consistent and fighting hard to work hard on our detail and our craft. That’s the one thing we’ve been holding the group accountable for. Make sure we get our technique, make sure we get our detail work in.”
Jackson also alluded to the growth of the defense as a whole, stating the talent at linebacker and along the defensive line will only make the secondary’s job that much easier. The front office has inked proven veteran names such as Haason Reddick, Denzel Perryman, DaQuan Jones and Morgan Fox this offseason to juice up the group.
“For the team, especially with the front seven like we have, I think that this corner and this secondary group can be really, really special, man. I think we have all the pieces. We have the IQs in the backend, we have the physicality, we have the speed. It’s just gonna be all about detailing and coming in and just trying to be consistent and working.”
This might’ve been a stretch for anyone in the organization, let alone Jackson, to say about this unit last season. A year ago today, the Panthers secondary was almost exclusively filled up by rookies and practice squad-caliber players.
With an extra 12 months of improvement for their younger guys has, again, come some considerable reinforcements. Bringing on rookies Jaycee Horn and Keith Taylor as well as free agents A.J. Bouye and Rashaan Melvin has helped give Carolina a nice facelift as they continue their rebuilding process.
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