1. J.C. Jackson, New England Patriots
When an entire positional unit is historically great, as the 2019 Patriots’ cornerback group was, you might wonder if a guy like Jackson, an undrafted free agent out of Maryland who New England picked up in 2018, is more of a beneficiary than an instigator. Then, you watch his tape, and those concerns go away very quickly. This was simply a situation where Jackson proved to have ideal man coverage skills, and the Patriots were getting ready to play man coverage at a high rate and at an astronomical level, and Jackson fit right in.
Yes, he’s athletic and twitchy enough to get things done, but you don’t get 491 coverage snaps for Bill Belichick if you don’t know what you’re doing. In this Week 14 interception of a Patrick Mahomes pass, watch how Jackson (at the bottom of the screen) delays his drop on the crossing route, giving the NFL’s best quarterback a false sense of security before dropping the hammer.
Beyond the tape, Jackson’s man coverage metrics were absolutely preposterous — 19 catches allowed on 46 targets for 181 yards, no touchdowns, a league-best five interceptions, a league-best opposing QBR of 13.3, a league-best EPA of -27.8, and only Pittsburgh’s Steven Nelson had a lower Positive Play Rate in man coverage than Jackson’s 28.3%.
No matter how you slice it, no cornerback was better in man coverage in 2019, and given Jackson’s ascent as a player, we could be writing the same thing after the 2020 season.
Kevin King | Marcus Peters | William Jackson III | Bradley Roby | Quinton Dunbar | Steven Nelson | Tre’Davious White | Tre Flowers | Stephon Gilmore | Jason McCourty | J.C. Jackson