Eddie Jackson was released by the Bears; might he fit in with the Packers?
Eddie Jackson, a two-time Pro Bowl safety, was released by the Chicago Bears on Thursday. The safety needs of the Green Bay Packers are immense.
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin: Eddie Jackson, a safety who was selected twice for the Pro Bowl by the Chicago Bears, was cut on Thursday, depriving the Green Bay Packers of a valuable player.
Or has Jackson passed his peak of influence?
High-ranking personnel executive texted, “He’s just a name.” “Is not interested in being physically active and has lost his speed and athleticism.”
One of the NFL’s top playmakers, Jackson turned 30 in December. In 2017, as a rookie selected in the fourth round, he recorded two interceptions and two defensive touchdowns. With six interceptions, fifteen passes defensed, and three defensive touchdowns (two pick-sixes) in 2018, he was named to the Pro Bowl. He returned to the Pro Bowl in 2019 and has two interceptions.
Jackson had a strong comeback season in 2022 with four interceptions after going without one for two complete seasons. Jackson had five passes defensed and one interception in 2023.
Age and injuries can contribute to the decreased performance. Due to foot problems, he has missed five games in each of the last two seasons.
In January 2020, the Bears signed a four-year, $58.4 million contract extension; the Bears released him to avoid paying the remaining balance. In 2024, he was expected to receive $14.05 million as base pay.
The Packers, considering their safety predicament, will undoubtedly be at least mildly curious. Just two players with contracts through 2024 participated in at least one defensive play in 2023. With 303 snaps, seventh-round rookie Anthony Johnson had three passes defensed and one interception, but he also had the NFL’s highest missed tackle rate. Benny Sapp, a rookie who was not selected, took three defensive snaps.
Rudy Ford, Jonathan Owens, and Darnell Savage are all expected to be unrestricted free agents. They participated in 1,959 defensive snaps together in 2023.
Ford had both interceptions and six passes defensed out of their total of two interceptions and ten passes defensed.
All-Rookie in 2019 after being selected first overall, Savage had just one interception and zero interceptions in 10 games with 50.2 percent of the playing time in 2023. In the playoff victory over Dallas, he had a pick-six, but he was also partly at blame for George Kittle’s long touchdown reception and Christian McCaffrey’s long touchdown run in the playoff defeat at San Francisco.
In regards to Jackson, the CEO stated, “I think he’s a fine safety net.” He stated, “You end up with more competent play, but it’s still below average.”
Under the direction of new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, safety will become even more crucial. He played a lot of Cover-1 and Cover-3 defensive at Boston College, as opposed to former coordinator Joe Barry’s Cover-2-heavy approach. This implies that the other safety needs to combine run-support toughness and coverage skills, while the deep safety—likely Jackson—must cover a lot of ground.
Pro Football Focus reports that 494 of his 646 defensive snaps for the Bears in the previous season occurred at free safety.
As a deep safety type, he’d suit in with any squad, according to Gene Chamberlain of SI.com’s Bear Digest. “He played in a 3-4 base defense that played a lot of Cover-3 in addition to Cover-2 for the first five years, but he spent the last two years playing in the Cover-2 system. The problem is that he isn’t the world’s greatest tackler.
No, he isn’t. Jackson was charged by PFF with seven missed tackles (15.6%). In contrast, Savage had twelve misses (18.5%), Johnson had nine misses (28.1%), Owens had seven misses (9.2%), and Ford had six misses (8.1%).
The executive stated, “He may recover on a one-year (contract), but he’s past his prime.”
Not that it counts, but in 2019 the Packers signed Adrian Amos in free agency after he was lured away from Chicago. What matters is that the Bears will be able to improve their safety situation because they will have better draft positioning and more salary-cap space than the Packers. Chicago will be searching for Jaquan Brisker’s sidekick.
