The Pittsburgh Steelers traded for Donte Jackson earlier this offseason, paying a high price for him. They gave up a starting wide receiver in Diontae Johnson as the centerpiece of their package, only coming out just ahead in a pair of mid-round draft pick swaps.
Jackson is a player who has been on the Steelers’ radar dating back to his college days. In retrospect, it’s easy to see why. In fact, he feels he grew up at the college level, preparing to play in a division like the AFC North.
“I was in the SEC West, so every week it was a dogfight, no matter who you were playing,” Jackson told the Irish Steelers Podcast. “Bama, Mississippi State, Auburn, Florida. Every week was a dogfight, and that’s the mindset you get into when you come into the AFC North.”
In recent years, the AFC North has become regarded as the toughest in football. Previously, that largely referred to the physicality of the games, but it now also refers to the quality of the opponent. Every team in the division finished with a winning record in 2023, with three advancing to the playoffs.
As a longtime member of the post-good Carolina Panthers, Donte Jackson doesn’t know about that life. He has only ever experienced losing seasons in the NFL, so coming to a team that always has winning seasons is a colossal change.
Jackson also played in one of the least competitive divisions in the league, the NFC South. Indeed, one might sense a hint of an inferiority complex when he talks about the transition. He insists that so many Steelers fans likely never even saw him play. The Panthers weren’t playing many primetime games in the post-Cam Newton era. And the Saints without Brees, the Falcons without Ryan, the non-Brady Bucs?
The division finished 14 games under .500 last year, with Carolina going 2-15. So now Jackson gets to head to the AFC North, a division that finished 18 games over .500. The Steelers went 5-1 in the division last year despite that.
“No game’s gonna be easy. You have to want to tackle. You have to want to go out there and play in cold games,” Jackson said about being prepared for AFC North football. “You’ve got to go out there and play tough games. You’ve got to go out there and expect to win on defense. All that is stuff I stand for.
“I’ve been a hardnosed player my whole life,” Jackson continued. “I’ve been a confident player my whole life. I just think that’s what you need to play in this division. Everybody can’t do it. Everybody can’t be successful. But the ones who get it, they stick around for a long time. That’s just been my plan: go out there and prove that I belong, and just keep getting better every single day.”
The Steelers brought Jackson in to pair with Joey Porter Jr. at cornerback. Both are man-coverage corners, and Mike Tomlin is excited about finding ways to exploit their skills. He has only played five games against AFC North teams before, though, with two interceptions. Here’s to hoping for even more.
