What Matt Rhule said about potentially sitting Panthers CB Donte Jackson to rest his toe
Donte Jackson would be happy if no one mentioned the word “toe” to him ever again.
His toe has been the reason he’s had trouble finishing games this season. He suffered a turf toe injury in Week 1 against the Raiders and it has affected his play ever since.
Last Sunday against the Buccaneers, he suffered yet another setback and was removed from the game in the first half. He did not return.
He played in only 24% of the team’s snaps.
“I feel for Donte,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said Monday. “It’s been a tough cycle. He practices during the week. Last week, he practiced pretty much full go. Unfortunately, he gets in the game and re-aggravates it.”
According to webmd.com, the most common symptoms of turf toe include, “pain, swelling, and limited joint movement at the base of one big toe. The symptoms develop slowly and gradually get worse over time if it’s caused by repetitive injury.”
The Panthers could have chosen to rest Jackson for a few weeks, in hopes that the toe injury would heal. But instead, his status for games this season has been treated as “week-to-week.” He has played at least one snap in all 10 games.
This week, that could change.
“I think we would explore all things moving forward for him,” Rhule said, when asked Monday about the possibility of sitting him.
When Jackson has played, he’s had some good moments. He has three interceptions this season, and opposing quarterbacks have a 87.1 passer rating when throwing his way, according to Pro Football Reference, allowing three passing touchdowns.
But he’s also missed eight tackles (30.8% missed-tackle rate), and hasn’t looked as fast as he has in the past.
Jackson missed 23.1% of his tackles in 2019, and 16.9% of his tackles as a rookie in 2018.
One of the issues with sitting Jackson is the lack of depth for Carolina at cornerback. Rookie cornerback Troy Pride Jr. is first in line to replace Jackson, and he has struggled. Opponents have a 126.9 passer rating when targeting the fourth-round draft pick.
The Panthers had cornerback Eli Apple but released him two weeks ago. He was often injured, and after releasing him, Rhule said he felt the decision was “in the best interest of the team.”
Jackson has had a good attitude about the injury, some times joking about it in press conferences. Despite his preference to not think about it, he never shies away from questions about the injury.
But it’s also clear that he’s frustrated by it.
“He cares and he tries to get out there and play and I respect that about him,” Rhule said.
