Tag: Jermaine Jackson

Saints sign a wide receiver back to their practice squad during bye week

The New Orleans Saints re-signed rookie wide receiver Jermaine Jackson back to their practice squad during the bye week:

That didn’t take long. The New Orleans Saints re-signed rookie wide receiver Jermaine Jackson back to their practice squad not long after waiving him last week, with another rookie going on injured reserve as a corresponding move — defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat, who suffered an elbow injury early in training camp and only recently returned to the team.

Jackson had been supplanted as the Saints’ returns specialist by another practice squad wideout, Dante Pettis, but they clearly want to keep him in the fold. Attrition with season-threatening injuries to players like Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, and Bub Means almost demands they keep that depth intact. But we’ll have to wait and see whether Jackson returns to the field this season.

As for Pettis? He came up a toe’s width shy of a punt returned for a touchdown against the Cleveland Browns last week, but still gained 53 yards on the play. Like Jackson he was an accomplished returns ace in college and interim head coach Darren Rizzi (who of course has a background as a special teams coordinator) wants him to get more opportunities to impact the game.

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Saints lose Pro Bowl wide receiver to injured reserve, ending his season

The New Orleans Saints lost Pro Bowl returns specialist/wide receiver Rashid Shaheed to injured reserve, ending his season:

This is a big hit. The New Orleans Saints lost Pro Bowl returns specialist and wide receiver Rashid Shaheed to injured reserve on Thursday, meaning he’s out of action for the rest of the 2024 season. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that doctors had to repair Shaheed’s torn meniscus rather than give it a trim, which means he’s facing a recovery of four to six months.

Shaheed underwent knee surgery in Los Angeles and will likely return to New Orleans to recover. This is hugely disappointing for one of the team’s young star talents, but it’s for the best for Shaheed’s career. Delaying surgery or taking half-measures to address the injury would have only worsened his situation. He’ll get the chance to fully recover and prepare for 2025. He signed an extension with the Saints this summer that keeps him under  contract through 2026.

So where do the Saints go next? They signed rookie backup Jermaine Jackson to the 53-man roster to bring an immediate replacement on special teams, but no one on the roster can match Shaheed’s speed. Chris Olave is dealing with a concussion so he’ll be out for at least Thursday’s game with the Denver Broncos. Stay tuned to see if more additions are coming at wide receiver.

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Saints bring back rookie returns specialist Jermaine Jackson

The Saints re-signed rookie returns ace Jermaine Jackson. He might bring an alternative on special teams after Rashid Shaheed’s muffed punt:

This is interesting. The New Orleans Saints announced a couple of changes to their practice squad on Tuesday, with rookie running back Jacob Kibodi being waived to open a spot for first-year wide receiver Jermaine Jackson.

Jackson, 5-foot-6 and 174 pounds, first signed with the Saints as an undrafted free agent out of Idaho earlier this year. But he suffered an injury during training camp and was let go from injured reserve with a settlement. Now he’s back.

It’s tough to not connect Jackson’s return to Rashid Shaheed’s big mistake against the Atlanta Falcons, muffing a punt deep in his own territory that was recovered for an opposing touchdown. Jackson was known for his skills in the return game at Idaho and picked up 604 punt return yards with 666 kick return yards, plus four return touchdowns (three off of punts, one from a kickoff).

The Saints spent big to get him in the building as a rookie free agent by guaranteeing $160,000 of his rookie contract. That’s more than some draft picks got from their teams, so they clearly valued him then and now by bringing him back for a second look now that he’s healthy.

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Saints lose another wide receiver to injury at training camp

The New Orleans Saints lost another wide receiver to injury at training camp. Rookie signee Jermaine Jackson was waived on Saturday:

The hits keep coming for the New Orleans Saints receiving corps. The team announced Saturday that rookie wide receiver Jermaine Jackson was waived with an injury designation, having exited Friday’s practice session with an undisclosed ailment. It’s a tough break for the rookie from Idaho, who was competing for a roster spot with his knack for returning punts and kickoffs.

Expect Jackson to revert to injured reserve upon clearing waivers. The Saints guaranteed him $160,000 when he signed as an undrafted free agent, so they’ll probably want to hold onto him while he recovers. He’s joining offensive tackle Justin Herron and tight end Tommy Hudson on injured reserve with Ryan Ramczyk done for the year on the physically unable to perform reserve.

His departure means even more upheaval at wide receiver. The Saints had been practicing without rookie draft pick Bub Means as well as veterans Cedrick Wilson Jr. (a projected starter) and Equanimeous St. Brown in recent days, so they were already running thin at the position. It’s why they brought back Marquez Callaway and signed Samson Nacua off the street. We’ll see if  more additions are coming, but Jackson being waived was also a corresponding move so they could sign reinforcements at tight end, so they  may stick with the group they’ve got.

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Countdown to Kickoff: Jermaine Jackson is the Saints Player of Day 80

Countdown to Kickoff: Jermaine Jackson is the New Orleans Saints Player of Day 80. What can the undrafted rookie do this summer to make the team?

One of the more coveted undrafted rookies of this year’s class for the New Orleans Saints is wide receiver/returner Jermaine Jackson out of Idaho. The former Vandals standout has an opportunity to make things happen in a specified role here in New Orleans.

Before we get to that though, let’s highlight Jackson as our Saints Player of the Day as we are now 80 days away from the Saints’ season opener against the Carolina Panthers.

  • Name (Age): Jermaine Jackson (24)
  • Position: Wide receiver
  • Height, weight: 5-foot-7, 170 pounds
  • Relative Athletic Score: 2.81
  • 2024 salary cap hit: $798,333
  • College: Idaho
  • Drafted: Undrafted in 2024 (New Orleans Saints)
  • NFL experience: Rookie

As things stand now for the Saints, Jackson is a longshot to make the team at the wide receiver position. With the top four spots already set between Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, A.T. Perry, and Cedrick Wilson Jr., Jackson will be competing against guys such as Equanimous St. Brown, Bub Means and Stanley Morgan Jr. for that fifth, possibly sixth spot on the depth chart. But this is where the value of Jackson as returns specialist matters.

At the backend of the receiving corps, Jackson has the potential to take a spot from another player due to his unique ability as a returner. Over his three years at Idaho Jackson combined for 536 yards on 36 punt return attempts, scoring on two of those and averaging about 15.7 yards per attempt. On kick returns Jackson was equally impressive accumulating 690 yards on 23 attempts, averaging 30 yards a return.

We’ve seen the Saints time and time again locate diamonds in the rough when it comes to return man as well as finding other undrafted players who have contributed big on special teams for them. Shaheed and Deonte Harty are the most notable having All-Pro recognition under their belt for their abilities back deep. If Jackson can provide a spark in this year’s preseason games, it is possible that he could be the next man in line to fill this role for the team.

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NFL analyst says Saints signed a top-10 undrafted free agent rookie class

The New Orleans Saints signed another highly-rated class of rookie free agents. Here’s why their undrafted rookies arrive with high expectations:

There aren’t many teams that can match the New Orleans Saints’ success in recruiting, developing, and leaning on undrafted talent. Just in recent years we’ve seen former rookie free agents like Rashid Shaheed, J.T. Gray, Carl Granderson, Juwan Johnson, Deonte Harty and Wil Lutz earn starting jobs and even Pro Bowl recognition after not hearing their names called during the NFL draft.

And this year’s crop has a lot of potential, too. FantasyPros’ Thor Nystrom is  one of the best at evaluating the draft each year, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who more thoroughly studies the players available as undrafted rookies. This year, he ranked the Saints’ class of undrafted free agents at No. 9 among the NFL’s 32 teams.

A major factor in that lofty placement was the pickup of former Colorado State tight end Dallin Holker. Nystrom ranked Holker as his 156th-best prospect in the entire draft, and the seventh-best tight end. Here’s why he’s still high on Holker despite some athletic limitations:

TE Dallin Holker is headed for an H-Back role at the next level that he absolutely has the skill to excel at. The question becomes… does he have the physical ability? Holker lacks speed (4.78), and he needs space to build up to that meager gear (24th-percentile 10-yard split).

Additionally, as one of the classes’ oldest players, there’s a glass ceiling on his potential within that usage-specific role. That said, Holker is a hands-catcher with real ball skills, a rarity amongst this class. Holker’s 10 contested catches last year were two more than any TE in this draft class.

Holker has one genetic quirk that decidedly works in his favor in this area: Holker is tied with the 6’7/260 Brevyn Spann-Ford for the longest arms of my top-15 TE. This gives Holker a deceivingly large catch radius that he uses to great effect, extending those long levers out to greet the rock at its earliest point every time.

Holker posted a sublime 94th-percentile 3-cone and an 83rd-percentile short shuttle. Holker’s change-of-direction fluidness is most evident after the catch, where he was a veritable broken-tackle machine in the Mountain West, finishing No. 2 in this class with 15 last year.

One area to work on at the next level to play up his natural agility and win more separation is footwork efficiency during the route-break process. But, overall, what his routes lack in snap and pizazz, Holker augments with tempo changes and a fun grab bag of upper-body deeks.

But Holker wasn’t the only rookie free agent the Saints signed after the draft. Nystrom is also high on former Yale wide receiver Mason Tipton, who offers game-breaking speed, and who we spoke with in an exclusive interview.  He’s one of several intriguing wideouts the Saints picked up as undrafted free agents, along with Jermaine Jackson (who had four kick return touchdowns at Idaho) and Kyle Sheets (who dominated his competition at Slippery Rock). All three of them should be in the mix for a roster spot or place on the practice squad.

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Saints spent big to sign undrafted Idaho returns ace Jermaine Jackson

The Saints spent big to sign undrafted Idaho returns ace Jermaine Jackson. With kick returns changing, it’s worth investing in multiple options:

NFL teams tell you how they value players by their actions, and most importantly how they spend their money. With the 2024 NFL draft behind us the New Orleans Saints entered a fierce bidding war with other teams for the rookies whose names were not called during the draft. And one of their first pickups was a costly one: Idaho Vandals wide receiver/return man Jermaine Jackson.

Jackson is listed at 5-foot-7 and 170 pounds so he’s cut from the same cloth as other Saints returns specialists like Rashid Shaheed and Deonte Harty. While he received just a $10,000 signing bonus to come to New Orleans, Jackson is also getting $150,000 of his base salary guaranteed, per KTIK 95.3 FM’s John Mallory. That’s significant. For context, Shaheed was guaranteed $222,000 when he signed with the Saints out of Weber State.

So why is he so special? There aren’t many players in college football with 600-plus return yards on both punts (604) and kickoffs (666), as well as four return touchdowns (three off of punts, one off of a kickoff). That production comes from a combination of instincts, athleticism, and hard work to cultivate them.

And why do the Saints value special teams so highly? Their coordinator Darren Rizzi was integral to developing new kickoff rules for 2024, which make it more favorable for teams to roster multiple returns specialists. He’s always scouted returners heavily. Some of them have hit like Shaheed and Harty. Others fell off like Marquez Callaway and last year’s undrafted rookie Malik Flowers. This year’s second round pick Kool-Aid McKinstry returned  punts at Alabama (35 times, for 427 yards) and said he’s open to helping in the return game if he’s needed.

But Jackson isn’t limited to work on special teams. Over the last two years he caught a combined 107 passes for 1,645 yards with 6 touchdowns as part of Idaho’s one-two punch at wide receiver. It’ll be fascinating to see whether Jackson can overcome the size mismatch with a very talented group of Saints cornerbacks over the summer but he was consistently productive at Idaho. But clearly the team has high expectations for him. All he needs to do is back them up.

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LOOK: LaMelo Ball photographed leaving gym with former NBA player Jalen Rose

LaMelo Ball was spotted this weekend both at Tufts University and leaving a gym with Jalen Rose, both potential results of working with Puma.

Recently photographed in the Boston area, it appears LaMelo Ball may have been working out in a gym alongside a former NBA standout. Ball has already once made a trip to Boston for a meeting with Puma and was once again spotted at Tufts University in Medford, a suburb of Boston, on Saturday.

On Sunday, likely not coincidentally, Ball was photographed leaving a gym alongside his manager Jermaine Jackson and former NBA wingman Jalen Rose. Both Ball and Jackson posted the photos to their Instagram while Rose shared Jackson’s post to his Instagram story.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHoVv_sFTN1/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHnKpMlncPf/?hl=en

As shown in the photo, Rose is also sporting Puma gear as he is an ambassador and consultant for the company.

Puma also helped fund Rose’s Leadership Academy last year as the retired player and brand have a close working relationship.

Ball’s collab with Puma is set to go live on Wednesday and it’s incredibly likely the two were together, at least to start the weekend, to market the new products. Whether the gym they’re leaving in the photo is one used for the aforementioned potential marketing work or as a workout is unknown, though.

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WATCH: LaMelo Ball throws down impressive off-the-back-board alley-oop

LaMelo Ball showed off his own hops on Instagram Wednesday by posting a video of an impressive off-the-backboard alley-oop.

With Lonzo Ball back in New Orleans and the quarantine period effectively over, LaMelo Ball set on his own path to prepare for the return of basketball. Alongside manager Jermaine Jackson, LaMelo traveled to Detroit, Jackson’s hometown, to continue preparing for the 2020 NBA Draft.

LaMelo has been joined by older brother LiAngelo as well with both looking to earn spots in the NBA in different ways. Jackson has posted sparingly about the training sessions taking place but LaMelo took to Instagram on Wednesday to show some of what he’s been working on.

Jackson also shared the video of the dunk on his own Instagram.

Ball is continuing preparing for the upcoming draft, where he is expected to be one of the first names to come off the board.

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Jermaine Jackson denies rumor linking LaMelo Ball to New York Knicks

After a recent report indicating LaMelo Ball preferred to land in New York, his manager Jermaine Jackson seemed to refute those rumors.

The whirlwind of rumors has been constant linking the New York Knicks to LaMelo Ball. Though the draft won’t be held until late in the fall, with no basketball to discuss and most of the NBA quarantining in a bubble in Florida, there are no storylines to discuss either.

The most recent rumor did not come from the Knicks, though. In a rare turn of the tables, it was a report indicating that Ball’s camp was as interested in a partnership with the storied franchise as they were with the youngest in the Ball family.

It was a rumor seemingly out of the blue as no reports had previously come out of Ball’s camp. And though it is near impossible to verify, Jermaine Jackson, LaMelo Ball’s manager, seemed to indicate the report was not true on Instagram.

In defense of Ball’s camp, there is rarely a report that is leaked. Dating back to Ball’s time in the NBL, rarely does anything get out that the camp doesn’t want. The severity of Ball’s injury that ended his season, for example, was never known even after the year ended.

But as noted, there’s no way to verify the legitimacy of the picture. While it falls in line with the narrative so far connecting the two parties, it could all just as easily be a social media ploy. Unfortunately, it’s a distinction that’ll have to continue to be debated until the NBA Draft.

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