The Cleveland Browns parted ways Wednesday with one of their defensive veterans as inside linebacker D’Qwell Jackson had his contract with the team terminated.
Jackson, who was drafted by the Browns in the second-round of the 2006 NFL Draft out of Maryland, was due a $3,933,333 base salary in 2014 in addition to a $4 million roster bonus and a $100,000 workout bonus. In releasing him, the Browns will save $5,233,333 million against their salary cap in 2014.
Jackson, who will turn 31 in September, played all but one snap on defense last year for the Browns and during his eight year career in Cleveland, he started a total of 96 games.
Now that Jackson is a street free agent, I am sure there will be quite a few Pittsburgh Steelers fans that will wonder if he is someone the black and gold will have interest in signing.
For starters, Jackson didn’t play overly well against the run last year for the Browns. In fact, as a team, the Browns allowed an average of 5.68 yards per carry on 71 rushes scored as going up the middle in 2013 and that average ranked them 29th in the league for that direction. In addition, the Browns defense also allowed 4.13 yards per rush on plays scored as going off left guard and that ranked them 22nd in the league overall.
The Steelers struggled against the run as well last season and that’s one area they will definitely need to fix in 2014. Based on what I saw of him last season, I’m not sure that adding Jackson would be a move in the right direction as far as accomplishing that goal. We shall see if the Steelers think otherwise.
