What CB William Jackson III brings to Washington

A closer look at Washington’s new cornerback

Washington made a surprise splash in free agency on Tuesday night, signing cornerback William Jackson III to a reported three-year, $42 million deal with $26 million guaranteed. Jackson was a first-round pick of the Bengals in 2016 and has quietly developed into a solid corner while playing on a bad team. He’s been overlooked because he played for the Bengals but should now have a bigger platform to make a name for himself in Washington, with a defensive front that any corner would love to play with. 

So what type of player is Jackson and how does he fit in Washington? Let’s take a closer look.

Skillset

Jackson is a long, athletic corner that excels in man coverage. He’s at his best aligned on the line of scrimmage in press coverage where he can use his length to jam receivers at the line of scrimmage. 

First play timestamp: 0:00

Notes: Here, Jackson aligns in press coverage in the outside to the left of the offensive formation. The receiver attempts to sell an outside release with a stutter step off the line before breaking back inside. Jackson, however, plays the release perfectly. He shows great patience, refusing to lunge at the receiver to jam him and instead mirroring his feet. Once the receiver fails to sell the outside release, he attempts to work inside and that’s when Jackson looks to jam him. He reaches out with his inside arm and gets his hands on the receiver, preventing him from releasing freely. The receiver is forced to delay his break inside as he attempts to fight off the physical coverage from Jackson, which messes up the timing with the quarterback on the route.

Second play timestamp: 0:10

Notes: This time, Jackson works in the slot against Washington’s own Terry McLaurin. McLaurin is tasked with running a basic cross, getting to 10 yards and breaking across the middle. He releases outside to try and create leverage and space for when he cuts back inside, but Jackson gets his hands on him and presses him wider. McLaurin attempts to cut sharply back inside, but Jackson has inside leverage and remains physical with McLaurin, delaying the cut and likely preventing him from being a realistic target had the quarterback looked his way.

While he’s good at jamming receivers at the line of scrimmage, he can time his strikes and position himself to force receivers off their path as they work vertically.

First play timestamp: 0:00

Notes: On this play, the Steelers send the outside receiver on a vertical route down the sideline. Jackson is again in press coverage but instead of looking to lock the receiver up at the line, he shows good patience. He allows the receiver to declare his intent to work outside, mirroring his movements before then striking with his hand to force the receiver wider. This knocks the receiver off his initial path and closer to the sideline. After the punch, Jackson sinks back to stay on top of the route, but also shows the receiver to the sideline, cutting off any path inside. This makes any potential throwing window to that receiver very tight and essentially takes him out of the play.

Second play timestamp: 0:07

Notes: Later on in the same game, Jackson lines up across from Steelers’ receiver Chase Claypool. Claypool looks to run a corner route from a tight split, taking an inside release to give himself room to work with. Jackson aligns with outside leverage and as the ball is snapped, he gradually funnels Claypool inside towards the hashmarks while sticking on his outside hip. As Claypool breaks back outside, Jackson remains tight on the outside hip. With the route secured, Jackson feels comfortable turning back to locate the ball. However, the throw is far more inside than Claypool and Jackson would have anticipated and Claypool nearly managed to make a great adjustment late in the play. Jackson didn’t panic and stayed tight. He changed his focus from the ball to the hands of the receiver, getting his hands in at the catch point to ensure Claypool didn’t come down with a completed pass.

That tight coverage is a feature of Jackson’s game. He’s good at staying attached to receivers regardless of the depth of route and has the ball skills to break up passes.

First play timestamp: 0:00

Notes: On the first play of this clip, Washington works out of an empty set with three receivers aligned to the right. Jackson matches up against McLaurin outside. McLaurin runs a quick slant, designed to work underneath the two receivers inside to try and create traffic for Jackson. However, the Bengals space their corners properly, allowing Jackson to play press while the two defenders inside sit further off. Jackson sticks tight to McLaurin, playing physical as he breaks inside. As soon as McLaurin commits to the slant, Jackson’s eyes go into the backfield, anticipating the throw coming. He locates the ball and gets his hand in at the catch point to knock it away from McLaurin and break up the pass.

Second play timestamp: 0:07

Notes: Here, Jackson finds himself in a tough spot down near the goal line. The Cowboys align star receiver Amari Cooper at the tip of a stacked set, with another receiver motioning inside to form a bunch. The receiver in motion runs a quick hook route designed to pick Jackson and leave Cooper wide open in the flat. However, Jackson works around the traffic and uses his athleticism to quickly close on Cooper. The throw is slightly wayward, but even if it had been on target, Jackson was in position to contest the catch or at least make the tackle short of the end zone.

Fit in Washington 

Jackson is clearly a very talented corner with some strong traits in man coverage. While that is a very desirable skillset, it doesn’t necessarily mesh with what Washington does defensively. In 2020, Washington’s defense played far more zone than man coverage, typically relying on Cover-3 and quarters as their go-to coverages. That’s not to say they didn’t play any man coverage, but it certainly wasn’t something they used regularly. Jackson can play zone coverages to a solid level, but it’s not something he excels at and doesn’t make best use of his abilities. 

Rivera has a history of not spending big money at the corner position and while Jackson’s contract isn’t top of the market corner money, it’s still a significant chunk of money and more than Rivera typically pays to cornerbacks. Big mistakes can be made in free agency when signing a player to fill a role that doesn’t fit their skillset. This move makes me wonder if Washington intends to revert more to Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio’s style in Denver and play more man coverage in 2021. 

Allowing Jackson to matchup against the opposition's best receiver and play aggressive press coverage is what would fit Jackson’s skillset best, but that would open up other questions. Kendall Fuller excelled playing off the line of scrimmage and in zone coverages, can he play more man coverage? I’m not sure he’s someone that is suited to press coverage, but perhaps he can play off-man on the other side of Jackson. Can Jimmy Moreland handle the slot role and hold up in man coverage? Kam Curl showed some development at strong safety matching up against tight ends, but does Washington have a linebacker that can cover tight ends or running backs? Who’s going to play free safety behind everyone to ensure Washington has some security over the top?

Those are a lot of questions Washington will have to figure out the answers to if they’re going to use Jackson to the best of his abilities. If they intend to just fit Jackson into what they were already doing he’ll be fine, but Washington likely could have found someone cheaper and more natural in zone coverages. So while Jackson is a talented player, the fit is an intriguing one that makes me curious about Washington’s next moves and how the defense might adapt in 2021.