Why aren’t the Chargers letting CB J.C. Jackson do what he does best?

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From his rookie season of 2018 as an undrafted free agent out of Maryland through his 2021 season, former New England Patriots and current Los Angeles Chargers cornerback J.C. Jackson was one of the best lockdown cornerbacks in the NFL. This was especially the case in 2021, when Jackson was New England’s CB1, and was targeted accordingly. And when he was targeted, he allowed 54 catches on 103 targets for 724 yards, 253 yards after the catch, eight interceptions, three touchdowns, and an opponent passer rating of 52.4.

In March, the Los Angeles Chargers signed Jackson to a five-year, $82.5 million contract with $40 million guaranteed, making him the fulcrum of head coach Brandon Staley’s defense. That defense is quite different than the ones Bill Belichick prefers to put on the field. Whether in man or zone, Belichick likes cornerbacks who can match receivers through the route. Staley’s defensive paradigm aligns more with the idea that cornerbacks and safeties need to work together through the route. There are match principles, but you don’t see them a lot on the field this season. And when they’re there, they aren’t often well-coordinated.

The difference for Jackson has been, to put it mildly, disastrous. Before Monday night’s Chargers-Broncos game, a 19-16 overtime win for Staley’s team, Jackson was already bailing water in his first season in this new defense.

Jackson was roasted on Russell Wilson’s one passing touchdown — a 39-yard touchdown to rookie tight end Greg Dulcich in which Jackson (top of the screen) followed receiver KJ Hamler in Cover-3, which meant that Jackson and deep safety Nasir Adderley were in the same place at the same time, and Dulcich was completely uncovered. With Adderley running the post, and Derwin James as the flat defender to that side, it’s tough to debit anybody else for being where Jackson was supposed to be.

As the game went along, Staley decided to bench his expensive cornerback.

“It just wasn’t good enough in the first half, and we felt like we needed to make a change,” Staley said after the game.

But one of Jackson’s last snaps in the game showed how he should be utilized. With 12 seconds left in the first half, Jackson was in press coverage on receiver Jerry Jeudy in the red zone, and Jeudy couldn’t shake Jackson through his route. Not that the Russell Wilson of today was going to try to zing the ball into that tight coverage anyway.

But this two-play sequence brings up a larger point: The Chargers did what a lot of teams do with very gifted players: They poached Jackson from his ideal schematic home, fitted him into their concepts, and didn’t seem to give much thought to how that would work. Jackson is far more a press/bail cornerback than he is an off-coverage expert. The best off-coverage cornerbacks (think Darius Slay of the Eagles) are that way because they can run routes as well or better than the receivers they’re covering. Cornerbacks like Jackson are more attackers than they are artists. They want and need to shut a receiver down from the first step of the route, and match them all the way through.

This season, per PFF, Jackson has been targeted 19 times, allowing 13 receptions for 220 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 147.0. Of his 19 targets, Jackson has been in press coverage just six times. There, he’s allowed three catches on six targets for 38 yards and no touchdowns.

The math isn’t hard here. When Jackson is in off coverage, he’s given up 10 catches on 13 targets for 182 yards, and all three of his touchdowns.

It’s an obvious schematic schism, and one that Staley has yet to address. So, we’re here to help. Let’s go back to Week 2 against the Chiefs, where Jackson was defending tight end Noah Gray in Cover-1, and simply shut Gray down on the quick slant.

Or this Cover-1 snap against the Browns in Week 5, where Jackson (top of the screen) just ran Amari Cooper off the road, and Jacoby Brissett just gave up on the throw.

Now, let’s look at this Cooper touchdown against Jackson in that same game, Jackson is playing about 10 yards off, and he has no answer for Cooper’s in-and-out in the end zone. Had Jackson been defending Cooper from the line of scrimmage, it may well have been a different story. Just ask Jerry Jeudy about that.

Just as Jackson was able to Velcro Cooper all the way up the boundary in press, here’s how it looks when Jackson is playing off. Jackson has good recovery speed, but this is not his ideal position, and smart quarterbacks and receivers will take advantage of that kind of open space all day.

Staley can say all he wants about how he needed a better defensive performance than the one Jackson was giving him on Monday night, and throughout the season. But if the coach wants to find the real reason for his own frustration, he might want to also take a glance at the man in the mirror.

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