Washington CB William Jackson Reveals Why WRs Don't Trash-Talk Him
It is a way of life for NFL wide receivers and cornerbacks: In order to psych themselves up, and to psych out their foes, they talk trash.
Unless, cornerback William Jackson III claims, you are a wide receiver opposing William Jackson III.
"No,'' Jackson said when asked if he hears a lot of trash talk from the receivers he's guarding. "When you don't catch the ball, you don't say much."
There is a lot to be said for being a cornerback with "swag.'' It's almost a requirement of the position, a certain level of confidence - even arrogance - keeps a guy from getting too low when he gets beat.
Which is inevitable. Right?
Jackson is a native of Houston, and has been open about his hardscrabble upbringing. He eventually made himself into a player worthy of participating collegiately at the University of Houston and then he was drafted by the Bengals 24th overall in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Some think Jackson was the best cornerback in this free agency class, making his three-year, $42 million deal with $26 million guaranteed a bargain for the Washington Football Team. Jackson, per Doug Farrar's ratings, was in 2020 in Cincy "targeted 40 times in 227 man coverage snaps in 2020, allowing just 15 receptions for 187 yards, and a Positive Play Rate of 32.5%, which ranked fourth among cornerbacks with at least 25 targets in man coverage.''
That made him, by that measure, the fourth-best man coverage corner in football.If he can repeat that level of success while moving from a Bengals defense that gave him little help to a WFT defense hoping to be the best in the NFL?
That'll have a lot of people talking - just not a lot of opposing wide receivers.
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