They say necessity is the mother of invention. Going into the 2021 season, not much had changed for Eddie Jackson. He was the Chicago Bears' starting free safety on defense. Their captain on the back end. However, it seems over the past several weeks that things have shifted. Those who have paid attention to the alignments have started seeing Jackson lined up as the nickel cornerback almost as often as at safety.
This is something the player himself has begun pushing for. He explained during his most recent press conference. It was during the Bears' game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5 that he saw more action at nickel. This was because he presented a better matchup for star Raiders tight end Darren Waller. As the weeks went on, Jackson became more and more comfortable playing that spot. Now it has gotten to a point where he is embracing the idea of playing there more often than at safety.
His reasoning for that idea was interesting.
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Playing free safety, it is somewhat easier for quarterbacks to avoid throwing at Jackson too often. This prevents him from making plays on the ball. By switching to nickel cornerback, he is able to get more involved against those QB's preferred targets on key downs. Since Week 7, Eddie Jackson saw his average snaps in the slot increase. From 10.5 per game to 15.6. It's hard to deny the impact too. Opposing offenses have failed to top 200 yards passing in six of the last seven games.
Jackson himself has been targeted 11 times during that same stretch, allowing just five catches for 35 yards and a pass deflection. So it would seem the coaching staff has found a way to utilize his talents more effectively while also masking one of their bigger weaknesses at the cornerback position. Duke Shelley has struggled most of the season along with Kindle Vildor and Artie Burns. It will be interesting to see if the next Bears coaching staff picks up on this approach and pushes it even further in 2022.
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