Player: CB Donte Jackson
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: While we won’t know for a couple of days, Donte Jackson could return for the Steelers this week. After battling a nagging back injury, he missed two of the final three games of the regular season. He isn’t a guarantee to play Saturday in Baltimore, but the playoffs certainly raise the stakes, and the threshold for discomfort.
Donte Jackson, for all his faults, has been one of the Steelers’ biggest playmakers this season. If they are going to win in the postseason, they will have to lean on making big plays. In other words, they should very much welcome Jackson back into the fold if he is healthy enough to play.
The Steelers acquired Jackson this offseason via trade, and he turned in something of a career year. That included a career-best five interceptions as well as a fumble recovery. Down the stretch, the Steelers have lacked some of that playmaking that helped keep them afloat.
The last time the Steelers beat the Ravens, for example, they took the ball away three times. Of course, it just so happens that Donte Jackson didn’t even record a stat in that particular game. But he didn’t even play in the second Ravens game, which they lost.
Jackson has dealt with minor injuries throughout the year, but the back injury has dragged on. He often misses a handful of snaps per game, only to return. Against the Eagles, however, he never made it back and missed the following game. While he played against the Chiefs, the Steelers held him out in the finale.
One wonders if the Steelers did that largely out of precaution. Pregame reports indicated that Donte Jackson would be active—but then hopes of a division title were dashed. With only Wild Card seeding on the line, he sat and watched. One would hope that a week later, his back will be good enough to go. But we won’t know for sure until the end of the week, most likely.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
