Veteran Reality Arrives for Eddie Jackson

Bears safety on Sunday could be taking his last bow with the team at Soldier Field as a veteran leader of the rising secondary.

Eddie Jackson is living for the moment.

The moments are short now, as he could be playing his last Bears home game Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.

The 2023 winner of Bears media's Jeff Dickerson Good Guy Award realizes the ramifications of the NFL salary cap's structure. As much fun as his seven Bears seasons have been, the realities of an $18.1 million cap cost for the final year of his contract in 2024 can make him expendable. He's trying to avoid thinking about it being an end.

"I know guys keep asking me that," Jackson told Halas Hall reporters. "It's like, I'm living in the moment, man. I'm appreciating the guys and just being around Tremaine (Edmunds) and those guys, TJ (Edwards), D-Walk (DeMarcus Walker), all the new guys, new faces on this team and all the relationships we've built within this year.

"It's like, man, it's crazy. So I haven't really thought about it. Lord willing, I hope I'm here next year."

Jackson's last three seasons have been shortened by injuries, last year a foot that didn't require surgery and this year another foot issue in Week 2 against Tampa Bay that took him out for five games. Last year Jackson was enjoying one of his best seasons with four interceptions and almost certain Pro Bowl status.

"Eddie had a really great year last year," Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. "He’s having a solid consistent year this year. He had a really good year last year before he got hurt."

Trying to come back after the injury this year hasn't been as easy. Pro Football Focus grades him 80th of 96 NFL safeties who have played meaningful minutes this season.

If it is his final home start for the Bears, Jackson is going out with the class he has shown since arriving as a fourth-round Ryan Pace pick in 2017 out of Alabama, a start to his career overshadowed by the season-ending leg injury his final season of school.

Jackson appreciates the tradition he has been a part of with the Bears, from making two touchdowns in one game against the Carolina Panthers in 2017 to making the division-clinching interception of Aaron Rodgers in 2018 to all of the subsequent teams.

"Oh man. It means everything," he said. "Just coming here from Alabama and the tradition of it, the history is rich, man. Everything is just so … it's family-orineted.

"When you walk through that lobby, man, you see all those Hall of Famers on the wall. Man, that's the goal. Just to see the tradition the Bears have built, one of the first organizations, it just means a lot.

"So for me to be here seven years and watch different coaches come, different GMs, different players, you build those relationship with them. And you learn from the older guys and for us now it's to pass it down to the younger guys and just seeing how I can affect someone just by being around them–with your presence, through conversation, it means everything. I love it. I enjoy it. And I don't take it for granted."

Jackson has been either schooling the young defensive backs or passing a torch throughout the season and has done it to the Bears' liking. Their secondary's rise has led to 18 interceptions, one off the league lead held by San Francisco.

"Yeah, I mean Eddie's kinda like the mouthpiece back there," safeties coach Andre Curtis said. "The communication element, you just feel his presence because he's seen so many things. It's not that the other guys don't know, it's just that Eddie anticipates fast. Really fast. He sees it. He sees it before it happens and he's communicating, 'Alert on this motion. Be alert for this.'

"A lot of guys can learn that stuff or see that stuff, but can they share it or process it to the other people? Some guys have a knack for that and Eddie, that's what makes him really cool back there."

Whether the Bears feel like the young secondary can take a step forward with someone else in that role next year must be weighed against a $12.56 million cap savings if he's cut before June 1 or $14.1 million if cut after.

Either way, Jackson will likely be in the league playing and probably starting for someone next season. Former Bears safety Tashaun Gipson has been an effective starter at age 33 for San Francisco and is three years older than Jackson. So age shouldn't be too much of a factor for Jackson around the league yet.

Wherever it's at, Jackson will take with him that tradition he has enjoyed so much at Halas Hall.

"But like I said, man, God always has a plan," Jackson said. "So I feel like I'll always land on my feet. I hope it's here. I know how it works in the business, I wish I could be here my whole entire career.

"But we know how this thing works. So you have to live in the moment. You have two more games guaranteed. I'm guaranteed two more games as a Chicago Bear. So I'm going to live in that moment, appreciate that moment."

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