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Joshua Jackson, CB
School: Iowa | Conference: BIG 10
College Experience: Junior | Age: 20?
Height / Weight: 6-1 / 192 lbs
Projected Draft Status: 1st Round
NFL Comparison: A.J. Bouye
College Statistics
Player Overview
Joshua Jackson has shown incredible progression during his time at Iowa. Jackson was a two-star recruit coming out of Corinth, Texas. He was recruited by teams like Colorado State, Nevada, and New Mexico state before deciding to accept his offer from Iowa. Jackson has blossomed into one of the best defensive backs in college football and probably the top cornerback in this class. Iowa is generally not known for producing top-level secondary talent but whatever methods they used with Jackson worked. Jackson has the physical and cerebral skills you look for at the position and should easily become CB1 for a team early in his career. Jackson has elite level ball skills and has a penchant for making huge plays resulting in turnovers. He also has great instincts, mirror ability, intelligence, and is a natural making a play on the ball. Jackson’s projection is all over the first round. I've seen him in mocks going in the top 10 and others going in the late 20s. His combine performance should help solidify his range.
Strengths
- Good size, speed, athleticism for the position. Appears to have adequate length for the position and kept pace with just about all his opposition this season. Very athletic and can make circus catches and breakups. Very fluid and smooth in his movements.
- Elite ball skills. Those INT and PD numbers aren’t flukes. Jackson competes for the ball consistently and aggressively.
- Some of the best patience, focus, anticipation, discipline, and poise I have seen in a long time out of the position. Doesn’t take the bait, doesn’t panic when the ball is in the air.
- Physical in run support and will lay a hit on the offense.
- Sticky in man coverage and mirrors very well. Keeps things in front of him in zone coverage and can close quickly.
Weaknesses
- Level of competition concern? The best QB he played all year was Josh Allen the best receiver was probably DaeSean Hamilton or Allen Lazard.
- Often gives receivers slack at the LOS and it works for most but can be taken advantage of by physical WRs with good speed (see Nebraska tape with Stanley Morgan Jr.)
Let’s see his work:
Jackson has elite ball skills. That much is obvious. He'll thrive as off-man CB at next level.
— Tyler Brooke (@TylerDBrooke) January 22, 2018
Plays well in Man, but isn't very disruptive in Press, not really putting hands on WRs. Not sold on him as open-field tackler.
Curious to see Combine results. Late RD1/Early 2 grade.
Almost an INT here. Plays off coverage, doesn't see his WR make an inside move, so he rides him up the sideline from a trail position and is able to at least make a play on the ball. pic.twitter.com/9uyvkiZEnA
— Tyler Brooke (@TylerDBrooke) January 22, 2018
How He Would Fit On The Redskins
The Redskins have lost Kendall Fuller to a trade and are poised to lose Bashaud Breeland in free agency. Both players represent a need on the team for a slot and boundary corner. I think young players should be allowed to step up and be given a chance so I am all for players like Dunbar and Moreau getting a shot to see what they do on a full-time basis. However, a player of Jackson’s talent should not be just dismissed because the need for CB is lower on the priority list. Pair him with Norman and you have two legit CB1 players on your team with great backups in Moreau and Dunbar. It’s also worth mentioning that Norman will be entering year three of his five-year contract and will represent cap savings if the team wants to move on from him starting in year four (2019). Cornerback is one of those positions where talent and depth needs to be accrued early and often. The selection of Jackson would help solidify a unit that only days ago was very strong but will take a significant blow.