The trade between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers in mid-March featuring wide receiver Diontae Johnson and Donte Jackson was rather surprising. It seemingly came out of left field and saw the Steelers take from one position of need to try and fix another need elsewhere.
But things have worked out in a major way for the Steelers with the acquisition of Jackson.
The veteran cornerback, who the Steelers had been eyeing since the 2018 NFL Draft and tried to trade for last season, has been a solid No. 2 opposite Joey Porter Jr. He leads the Steelers in interceptions with three on the season.
ESPN’s Aaron Schatz highlighted Jackson as one of the five offseason additions that “have worked out” so far this season, with Jackson joining running back Saquon Barkley in Philadelphia, cornerback Stephon Gilmore in Minnesota, running back Derrick Henry in Baltimore and defensive end Danielle Hunter in Houston.
Jackson is the only player acquired via trade in that group.
“Jackson was never regarded as a top cornerback when he was with the Panthers, but his strong early performance opposite Joey Porter Jr. has helped the 6-2 Steelers rank 11th in defensive DVOA,” Schatz writes for ESPN.com. “Although Jackson has been in coverage on some big gains — the longest are 28 yards to Michael Pittman Jr. in Week 4 and 48 yards to Jalen Tolbert in Week 5 — he has yet to allow a touchdown this season.
“He also has six passes defensed and three interceptions after just five passes defensed with no interceptions for all of 2023.”
Jackson has been an opportunistic cornerback on the season, taking advantage of some bad throws and bad decisions from opposing quarterbacks, leading to key takeaways for the Steelers’ defense.
In coverage, according to Pro Football Focus, Jackson has allowed 22 receptions on 39 targets for 273 yards. He hasn’t allowed a touchdown on the season.
In 443 defensive snaps, Jackson grades out at 55.0 overall from PFF, including a 68.6 against the run and a 53.0 in coverage. He’s been better than those numbers suggest, too. However, he’s had some issues in the tackling department in recent weeks.
Jackson is second on the Steelers in missed tackles entering the Week 9 bye with eight on the season and a missed tackle rate of 25%. Of course, most of his misses have come in the weeks since he initially injured his shoulder, so that could be a factor.
But there’s no denying Jackson’s impact on the Steelers so far. The Steelers very clearly won that trade, especially with Johnson getting traded to the Baltimore Ravens Tuesday. Jackson has been everything the Steelers expected and should be around for awhile.
