Players who have stood out in NFL preseason

#11 Josh Jackson, CB, Packers

I’m not sure how Jackson felt about falling to the middle of the second round after a 2017 campaign, in which he intercepted eight passes, which led to winning the Jack Tatum award for the top collegiate defensive back and a unanimous All-American selection.

While I had some questions about his long-speed, there is no doubt he can be a playmaker for a Packers defense that desperately needs guys like that. It didn’t take Jackson very long to make a huge splash when he did his best impression of veteran teammate Tramon Williams, taking back the second pick-six on the day for Green Bay, as he undercut a deep comeback route.

Yes, the interception came off Joshua Dobbs and not Ben Roethlisberger, but this is the type of stuff Jackson can bring to the table. He has been physical with receivers and run stride for stride with them, his length to redirect pass-catchers and get a hand in late has been apparent, plus he hasn’t shied away one bit from tackling bigger bodies coming right at him.

Jackson almost took another interception back to the house versus the Raiders, but he had it called back due to a defensive holding penalty against one of his teammates, who covered a receiver on the opposite side where the quarterback never even peaked at. Overall he has allowed just one reception for nine yards on nine targets.

Things just look easy out there for the former Iowa breakout star, so I’m intrigued to see what he does when he is lined up against the game’s elite receivers once the regular season rolls around.

The Packers selected another lanky corner in Washington’s Kevin King with the first pick of round two of last year’s draft and they got my number two-ranked corner in this year’s class in Louisville’s Jaire Alexander, but I can’t really see how Jackson doesn’t see the field. The possibility of him and King disrupting the receiver on the perimeter and Alexander lining up at nickel is very intriguing to me.