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Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - Bengalholic - 07-26-2018
William Jackson's historic 2017 season
BY MARK CHICHESTER • JUL 26, 2018
![[Image: USATSI_10396689.jpg?w=916&h=720]](https://media.profootballfocus.com/2018/07/USATSI_10396689.jpg?w=916&h=720)
“William Jackson III may be the best pure cornerback available in the draft, and he is one of the few top players at the position who ticks all of the boxes for some teams when it comes to measurables and size as well as play. Last season he graded outstandingly well and he seems to have everything teams want in a top cover guy with room to get even better.” – Sam Monson, March 9, 2016.
That was Pro Football Focus’ scouting report on a promising young cornerback named William Jackson III, which was published well before the Cincinnati Bengals selected him with the 24th overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft. To say that scouting report is accurate would be an tremendous understatement, especially after Jackson’s historically great 2017 season, but back then, few would have anticipated the long and complicated road that he would need to take in order to establish himself as one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks.
After being selected in the first round of the 2016 draft, Jackson III suffered a torn pectoral and was forced to miss the entire season. With his entire rookie campaign lost, Jackson’s first NFL action came in 2017, but for some reason the Bengals didn’t employ him as a full-time player, despite clear evidence he was the best coverage player in their secondary. Throughout the year, he logged just 698 snaps for the Bengals, with 327 of those snaps coming in the last five games of the season.
![[Image: Bengals-CB-Grades.jpg]](https://media.profootballfocus.com/2018/07/Bengals-CB-Grades.jpg)
Those 698 snaps trailed teammates Darqueze Dennard (899) and Dre Kirkpatrick (868), although Jackson clearly outperformed both of them. In fact, there is no better indicator of this than their PFF grades. Over the course of the year, Jackson attained an overall grade of 89.2 and a coverage grade of 88.9, both of which ranked eighth among 121 qualifying players at the position. In comparison, Dennard’s overall grade of 83.2 and his coverage grade of 81.9 ranked 31st and 37th, respectively, while Kirkpatrick’s overall grade of 56.4 and his coverage grade of 52.8 were good for 91st and 93rd.
However, it’s not just his grades that tell the story. If you combine almost half a dozen advanced cornerback coverage metrics, you can not only prove that Jackson had the best year among Bengals cornerbacks, but you could make the case that Jackson III had one of, if not [size=large]the greatest statistical season PFF has seen over the past 12 seasons for a cornerback.
At Pro Football Focus, we have a wealth of signature stats at our disposal to show just how dominant Jackson was in 2017, but none are more impressive than the minuscule catch rate he allowed.
Full Article
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - fredtoast - 07-26-2018
PFF individual rankings are a joke, but I like to see them list objective stats to show how good Jackson was.
According to FootballOutsiders both WJ3's success rate (73%) and Adjusted Yards Per Target (4.1) would have been #1 among all CBs but he did not have enough starts/targets to rank.
BTW Dre's coverage numbers dropped off dramatically this season, but still not bad enough to have him ranked in the 90's. His AYPT ranked 39th (down from 6th in '16 and 18th in '15) and his success rate ranked 61st (40th in '16 and 32nd in '15)
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - Nate (formerly eliminate08) - 07-26-2018
Yeah, Will Jax might end up being the next Revis, he has that kind of skill set and ability to be around the ball.
Aaron Rodgers found out last year lol
Not big on PFF but any way you cut it WJ3 had a very good year last year and that was just the beginning.
Shut down arguably the best WR in the NFL in Antonio Brown.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - SunsetBengal - 07-26-2018
Nice to get confirmation from the "talk abouters" that Jackson is the future Superstar that I already see him as.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - The Caped Crusader - 07-26-2018
I can't wait to see him play less than Kirkpatrick.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - Nicomo Cosca - 07-27-2018
(07-26-2018, 09:24 PM)The Caped Crusader Wrote: I can't wait to see him play less than Kirkpatrick.
That’s not going to happen.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - Bengal Dude - 07-27-2018
I feel like Jackson will be one of the best players in team history. He was a great player in college and then continued his high level of play as soon as he got a chance to play. I'm just hoping Marvin/Austin let him shadow #1 WRs and not restrict him to left side of right side.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - Go Cards - 07-27-2018
Was a big fan immediately in preseason where he drew a flag right away on a pro bowl type clean play that I had not seen since JoJo.
Then got another a game or two later in preseason that was the same deal.
Neither should have been flags and just not sure the refs were up to speed enough to believe he was that good.
Sky is the limit for the kid.
Lawson and Mixon have huge upsides as well but not as polished yet.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - Go Cards - 07-27-2018
Plus we have not even seen our new toys yet from draft, trade, and FA.
What an exciting year this is and could be throughout season.
Just wish we had taken one more OL in draft, still one may get released that we can swoop up to bolster depth.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - HarleyDog - 07-27-2018
WJ is fun to watch. Definitely better than Dre. Hopefully Dre will get some tips from him and improve his game.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - SHRacerX - 07-27-2018
I watched him a lot while he was at Houston...you don't luck your way in to 29 PBUs in a single season. I was thrilled when they drafted him.
Now, if we could get Dre to be more consistent or get Dennard to replace him, we will really have something.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - bengalfan74 - 07-27-2018
(07-27-2018, 01:02 AM)Bengal Dude Wrote: I feel like Jackson will be one of the best players in team history. He was a great player in college and then continued his high level of play as soon as he got a chance to play. I'm just hoping Marvin/Austin let him shadow #1 WRs and not restrict him to left side of right side.
I'm with ya,
I think Jackson has excellent potential to be a real stud ! A household name. Our D-line will love him
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - Nate (formerly eliminate08) - 07-27-2018
(07-27-2018, 07:29 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I watched him a lot while he was at Houston...you don't luck your way in to 29 PBUs in a single season. I was thrilled when they drafted him.
Now, if we could get Dre to be more consistent or get Dennard to replace him, we will really have something.
I expect Dennard to take snaps away from Dre this season and become the 2nd Corner.
He is clearly better then Dre and the numbers show it, then we need to extend him, Geno, Carlos and Kroft.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - Shake n Blake - 07-27-2018
We still have a little ways to go, but I'm starting to wonder if overpaying DreKirk will hurt our chances to keep WJ3 around long term.
WJ3's 5th year option (9+ million) will happen in 2020, and DreKirk is signed through the 2021 season, when he will have a cap hit of $11.25 million. With deals also looming for other players, I'd look at unloading that DreKirk contract if possible.
RE: Why 'the sky's the limit' for WJIII - Nate (formerly eliminate08) - 07-28-2018
(07-27-2018, 11:32 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: We still have a little ways to go, but I'm starting to wonder if overpaying DreKirk will hurt our chances to keep WJ3 around long term.
WJ3's 5th year option (9+ million) will happen in 2020, and DreKirk is signed through the 2021 season, when he will have a cap hit of $11.25 million. With deals also looming for other players, I'd look at unloading that DreKirk contract if possible.
Definately, keep Will Jax and Dennard should be the priority just like Geno and Carlos.