The Pittsburgh Steelers made headlines Tuesday, landing LB Patrick Queen on a three-year contract – a universally praised move – before trading WR Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers for CB Donte Jackson and a Day 3 pick swap. A move met with far more mixed emotions.
So what are the Steelers getting with Jackson? Did Pittsburgh get ripped off and give Johnson away for nothing? Or can Jackson become a starter at cornerback, easing the need there, and allowing Pittsburgh to focus on taking a receiver early in next month’s draft. Let’s get into the film.
We’ll break this down in three parts. Pass defense, run defense/tackling., and usage. Let’s dive in.
Pass Defense/Coverage
Jackson was an athletic and speedy corner coming out of LSU. Though undersized at 5104, 174 pounds with 29 1/2-inch arms, he ran a 4.32 40 at the NFL Scouting Combine, jumped 37 inches in the vert at his Pro Day, and posted a 10’4″ broad in Indianapolis. Though about to turn 29, his speed still shines through, and he can cover ground in a hurry. With good technique, he’s able to turn and run and carry routes vertically while getting his head around to find the football. Some clips.
Right corner, top of the screen, No. 26 in both clips.
Largely a zone corner in Carolina, he’s able to press and reroute at the line despite his lack of size. There’s effort and fight. In Cover 2, he can get his head around and find the football, and he’s able to quickly close. In the first clip, he knocks away the out route on this two-man combination. On the second, he’s able to avoid the pick on the goal line and break up this near touchdown.
Bottom of the screen, right corner, in both clips here against the Chicago Bears.
Jackson can be overaggressive in coverage and burned because of it. Too often, he takes the cheese on double moves. He has the speed to recover but he gets himself into trouble with poor eye discipline. It leads to big plays allowed and penalties. He had a particularly tough time against Dallas last season, flagged twice downfield.
He’s the right cornerback to the bottom of the screen in the first three clips. He’s the right corner to the top in the final against Atlanta.
While Jackson can display good feet to change directions and fluid hips to turn, he can get erratic at the top of routes and get himself off balance. Bigger receivers are also able to nudge him off at the top of the route, too. Overall, his coverage felt up and down, and some of that is a life of a corner, but when he lost, he lost big over the top.
Run Defense/Tackling
Despite being a small corner, Jackson is willing to support the run. He sets the edge and turns the back inside. His technique wanes and is inconsistent, Jackson leading with his shoulder too often and trying to go low to compensate for his lack of size, cutting down as opposed to wrapping up against the run. But he wasn’t a liability against the run.
When he’s able to plant and drive in space, he can create moderate hit power, though it’s not enough to really separate player from ball at the catch point. First clip against Dallas, he’s the LCB to the bottom. In the second against Tampa Bay, he’s the RCB to the top.
Jackson is more of a drag down tackler, but he can get big receivers to the ground. He was able to limit YAC against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ big receivers, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, on slants and routes over the middle of the field.
Statistically, his numbers aren’t impressive. Per Pro Football Reference, Jackson had a 16.9 percent missed tackle rate in 2023. In five of his six seasons, he sat at 12 percent or higher. The only exception was 2022 at an impressively low 2.8 percent, though injury cut his season in half.
As a tackler, I’d say size limitations cause him to miss and fall off, but he’s not scared to try and tackle and play a bit bigger than his frame. But his technique doesn’t wrap up enough.
Usage
Though Jackson profiles as an undersized corner who seems suited for the slot, he’s played on the outside throughout his career. Per Pro Football Focus’ charting, Jackson played 811 snaps as an outside corner in 2023. He played left and right but logged most at the latter, 638 on the right side. He had just five snaps as a slot corner. Putting aside his injured 2022 season, he logged 610 outside corner snaps in 2021 compared to just 46 in the slot.
I don’t have the Panthers’ full coverage data but in the five games I watched, they were predominantly a zone team. Mostly Cover 2 and Cover 3, softer zone coverage. Of course, there was some Cover 1 and a little bit of 2 Man, but Jackson was asked to play in zone most often. And according to this Week 15 blurb from PFF, the Panthers ran zone 85.3 percent of the time, third-highest in the league at the time.
The Steelers might have a man personality, but they were a zone team in 2023, in part due to injuries that impacted their secondary down the stretch.
Jackson has played very little on special teams. A starting corner, he’s logged just 10 special teams snaps over the 2022 and 2023 seasons combined. He rarely blitzed. Jackson was flagged four times on the season. You saw two of them against Dallas.
For the first time in his career, Jackson didn’t pick off a pass in 2023. In his previous five seasons, he had 14 interceptions. So there was some playmaking, using his natural athleticism to his advantage.
Final Thoughts
Given how much it seems Panthers fans seemed to dislike Jackson and the fact Carolina was prepared to release him had it not found the Steelers as a trade partner, I thought Jackson would be worse than what I saw. He was not a horrible corner. But aside from straight-line speed, he doesn’t have the calling card trait Johnson has in his route running. Jackson’s game is up and down and his gambling tendency or just poor/late recognition is a problem that will get him and the defense into trouble.
Donte Jackson can be a stopgap for a year as a starting corner, a No. 2 who won’t have to shadow top wideouts, a role Joey Porter Jr. will handle as he ascends into Year 2. Most of Jackson’s tape was serviceable and quiet with a couple more negative reps than positive ones in coverage. But Jackson, for what it’s worth, is better than Levi Wallace and offers speed I’ve been calling for this defense to add.
My view of the deal? The Steelers lost it. The pick swap isn’t nothing, it’s a difference of nearly 60 selections, but it’s negligible on Day 3 in a draft class that lacks depth. And Johnson is a better player than Jackson. He just is. Before the trade, the Steelers had a 10-foot hole at corner. After trading Johnson, they now how a 10-foot hole at wide receiver and say, a seven-foot hole at corner. There are layers to why Johnson was dealt, including him possibly wanting out and pushing for a trade, but just judging the deal on its face, Pittsburgh didn’t come out ahead. Its roster did not get better.
