Why Carolina Panthers cornerback Donte Jackson feels disrespected
Donte Jackson has something to say.
It feels like he has been holding it back.
“I feel disrespected,” he told The Observer in a one-on-one interview.
Not within the Carolina Panthers organization. He said he feels the love there.
But Jackson feels like he’s one of the best cornerbacks in the league, and he hasn’t seen the recognition from the media or on social media.
There’s no doubt Jackson, who is in his fourth NFL season, is playing some of the best football of his career.
Opposing quarterbacks are completing only 58% of the passes thrown his way, according to Pro Football Reference. He has two pass deflections.
But where he has been at his best is in the run game.
Take for instance his play in Week 2 against the Saints. The Saints had second-and-10 from their own 25-yard line with 14:13 left in the third quarter. Saints quarterback Jameis Winston handed the ball off to running back Alvin Kamara, who ran left.
The only defender in the area was Jackson, who lunged at Kamara, bringing him down by his legs at the line of scrimmage.
The Panthers have the second-best pass defense (total yards allowed) in the NFL, entering Sunday’s 1 p.m. game against the Eagles, and Jackson anchors the secondary.
He’ll likely be the primary person covering Eagles rookie sensation DeVonta Smith.
“You can put him on the best player and he holds up really well,” Panthers defensive coordinator Phil Snow said of Jackson. “And actually does better than that. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
Jackson’s stellar play didn’t begin this season. It dates back to 2020 after he returned from a toe injury that kept him in and out of the lineup for the majority of the season.
In Week 15, NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers targeted Jackson five times. Jackson allowed three catches for 10 yards. And Davante Adams, arguably the NFL’s best wide receiver, was held to only 42 yards receiving.
When asked what changed for him in his approach or mindset this season, Jackson said nothing changed. But he explained that he stopped worrying about the lack of attention or credit he was getting and started listening to himself.
“Coming into this year, I was telling myself, ‘Bro, you lit,’ ” Jackson said. “You watched the end of last year when I came back and my toe was healthy: ‘You were lit. Davante Adams had nothing on you. You went to Washington and balled out.’ ”
But even though he says it doesn’t bother him, it seems like it does. Maybe just not as much. But it definitely motivates him.
“At first I used to get caught up, like ‘Damn, I’m balling out and nobody is even talking about me,’ ” he said in his native New Orleans accent. “I hold this dude to one catch, 6 yards, and you don’t hear nothing about it. But let him go get two touchdowns on me or catch some good passes on me, and everybody in Carolina going to be talking about it. Like dang, nobody gives me any love. If this is any other corner that did this, that went and tackled Alvin Kamara in the open field field by himself, you would have seen it everywhere.”
Jackson strongly believes he’s one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL.
That’s part of his New Orleans swag, too. He grew up in New Orleans and calls himself a “Katrina baby.” His family had to flee their home when Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane, plowed through the New Orleans area in 2005, causing more than 1,800 deaths and billions of dollars in damage to the city.
Jackson was 9 years old when it happened. So he’s always had to be tough. He went on to become a star at LSU before the Panthers drafted him in the second round of the 2018 NFL draft.
However, to get the recognition he’s seeking, he’ll likely have to get more interceptions. His last interception came in Week 8 of the 2020 season.
Going through adversity
Jackson had a good rookie season, but in his second season, which he calls his worst, he dealt with adversity, and said at one point, he began to doubt himself.
He had two interceptions in a 38-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 3 of the 2019 season, then pulled his groin in the Wednesday practice after that game. The doctor told him he’d be out for six weeks, Jackson said. It was the first time in his life that he would miss significant time from football.
He couldn’t play. All he could do was watch as the Panthers continued to lose games. And his two-interception performance against the 2019 No. 1 overall pick, Kyler Murray, began to fade away from people’s memories.
Then later in the season, Ron Rivera, who Jackson said is one of his favorite coaches and someone he looks up to, was fired.
Jackson said after his injury and Rivera’s firing he “went to a dark place.” He said he began to lose confidence in himself and “wanted to stop even giving football my all.”
Even after he returned, he wasn’t the same. He didn’t care anymore.
“I just think a lot was thrown on me, and I just didn’t know how to cope with it,” Jackson said.
But Jackson said he’s glad all of that happened, because it allowed him to grow. At the end of the season, he said he sat back and watched the film on all of his games. He saw the mistakes he made and the plays he gave up.
He came into Year 3 hoping to show the new coaching staff that he was one of the best cornerbacks in the league. It appears he has done that. In Year 4, he was named team captain this season by his peers, an honor Jackson said he wasn’t expecting but was proud of because it meant his peers looked up to him, and it showed his growth.
“Absolutely,” Panthers cornerbacks coach Evan Cooper said, when asked if he believed Jackson was one of the best corners in the NFL. “To do what he does on a day in, day out, game in, game out — I watch a bunch of tape on corners. It’s not a lot that tackle like him and cover like him and bring energy he does.”
“I absolutely believes he’s one of the very best.”
An expiring contract
At the end of this season, Jackson’s contract expires. The Panthers have a history of not paying young cornerbacks in their prime, like James Bradberry and Josh Norman, who went to the Giants and Washington Football Team, respectively.
But those were under previous general managers.
Earlier this week, the Panthers traded a future sixth-round pick for former All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore. The Panthers were looking for help after rookie cornerback Jaycee Horn got hurt. The previous week they traded for former top-10 pick C.J. Henderson. Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer said earlier this week that he reached out to Jackson to assure him that the Henderson move wasn’t indicative of his future with the team.
There haven’t been many discussions between the Panthers and Jackson’s representation regarding his contract, which expires after this season. Fitterer has said an extension will happen at the right time.
“Nothing we do with any other player affects Donte Jackson,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said. “Donte Jackson is an outstanding player, captain, leader. Ultimate brand guy. You make moves in season to win games. Everyone’s contracts and all those things, we’re going to try to be an operation that does things after the season.”
But the Panthers want him back, and Rhule said that Jackson is a high priority.
“That’s love,” Jackson said about Rhule’s comments. “At the end of the day, I know I’ve still got work to do. I still try to come in every day thinking I ain’t getting no respect. I don’t approach it as, ‘Oh, this is your bag year. You’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that. Nah, I think about it as, ‘Nobody in this profession respects you.’ That’s how I approach my job.
“So I see tweets and stuff like how ‘he’s tackling.’ ” No I’ve been a tackler. ‘D-Jack is covering.’ I’ve been covering. You know what I’m saying? I see so much old stuff stuck in people’s head. They don’t even really be watching me.”
Jackson is currently making $2.8 million in the final year of his rookie deal, according to overthecap.com.
If Jackson continues at the pace he’s playing, he can be one of the top three or four highest-paid cornerbacks in the league.
The top three highest paid cornerbacks — Jalen Ramsey, Marlon Humphrey and Marshon Lattimore — currently make $20 million, $19.5 million and $19.4 million a year, respectively.
But Jackson said he’s not thinking about that. He’s thinking about the Panthers, winning games and winning his next matchup.
“Everybody going to get me, the way I see myself, and that’s straight dawg,” Jackson said. “I’m going to come out there and make it hard for you.
“Make sure your hair is cut, make sure your gloves tight, your shoes tied, make sure you done ate breakfast, everything. Make sure you done prayed because you know, when 26 gets in front you, you gonna work, and that just is what it is.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
