NFL Trade Deadline News & Rumors Tracker: Washington swaps late round picks to trade William Jackson III to the Steelers

UPDATE: William Jackson III gave up per-game roster bonuses to facilitate trade to Steelers.

Those bonuses were for $44,000 a game for the rest of this season, and he’ll now give that up. He’ll still make $2.777 million in base salary for the rest of the year.

UPDATE: Officially Official

UPDATE: Our evaluation was wrong

UPDATE: Late round pick swap to dump Jackson’s contract

UPDATE: Another team is interested in WJIII

UPDATE: Pittsburgh Steelers are finalizing a deal for William Jackson III

The Washington Commanders will reportedly release CB William Jackson III if they can’t find a trade partner to take on his contract. There have been trade rumors swirling around him for weeks, but Jackson denied the initial reports that he requested a trade and wanted to go to a team that ran a scheme that he could actually look like an NFL cornerback in. Jackson has been called out by coached for his lack of communication and understanding of the scheme that Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio runs in Washington.

William Jackson III hasn’t played in the last 3 games and has been listed with a back injury. That injury designation also caused him to miss the Week 3 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, and was the reason he gave for being benched in Week 5 vs the Tennessee Titans, his last game played for Washington. Since his benching, Washington’s secondary, and overall defense has improved. Benjamin St-Juste moved to the outside after playing the slot early in the season. Rachad Wildgoose, who was a waiver claim pickup after the Jets released him to get their roster down to 53 players, filled in for St-Juste and has kept that role.

William Jackson III was a big free agent signing for the Washington Football Team last year. He left the Cincinnati Bengals, who had already moved on from him, to sign a 3-year, $40.5 million contract to pair up with Kendall Fuller as Washington’s starting CB duo. He never looked comfortable in the scheme, and will likely leave as the biggest FA bust of Ron Rivera’s regime in Washington.