07-26-2018, 03:58 PM
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
BY MARK CHICHESTER • JUL 26, 2018
“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.
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
