Bill Belichick is famously a smooth criminal when it comes to trading for other teams’ castoffs and turning them into stars. We’ll see if he can do it again with a new cornerback acquired Sunday.
The New England Patriots announced that they had completed a trade for Detroit Lions cornerback Michael Jackson. According to The Athletic’s Jeff Howe, the Patriots gave up a conditional seventh-round pick in the deal, with conditions based on Jackson’s playing time.
The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Jackson has bounced around the NFL since being drafted out of Miami in the fifth round of 2019 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. The Lions later signed Jackson of Dallas’ practice squad. The cornerback played in one game as a rookie and did not record any statistics.
Acquiring a player like Jackson is a low-risk gamble, adding a young player and giving him a new situation with hopes that he could live up to his potential. Heading into the NFL Draft, Jackson drew praise for his physicality as a defender. Jackson’s above-average size for the cornerback position certainly helps him in this regard.
The move brings in Jackson to what’s already a pretty crowded cornerback group in New England. With the addition of Jackson, the Patriots’ cornerback position now includes:
- Stephon Gilmore, the reigning defensive player of the year
- Jason McCourty
- J.C. Jackson
- Jonathan Jones
- JoeJuan Bentley
- D’Angelo Ross
The Patriots have a top-four of Gilmore, McCourty, J.C. Jackson and Jones at the position. However, with the team trading Duron Harmon (coincidentally to the Lions) and losing Patrick Chung to opt-out, the Patriots could use some of the cornerback group at the safety position. Jackson gives the Patriots some depth with upside without giving up much.
Belichick has had success trading with the Lions in the past. The most notable example is when the team acquired linebacker Kyle Van Noy in exchange for negligible draft capital in 2016. Van Noy went on to become one of the Patriots’ most important defenders during his four-year run in New England.
There’s a strong New England-to-Detroit connection, as the Lions currently have former Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia as their head coach and former New England executive Bob Quinn as their general manager.
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