1st round, 18th overall pick: Adoree Jackson CB, USC
Grade: A-
I was 100% wrong about Adoree Jackson. I thought he would come to the Tennessee Titans as a star return man who needed a lot of polish as a cornerback. He has been exactly the opposite of that.
As a cornerback he has helped take away some very talented receivers, and when the pass rush is working well he is about as good as any cornerback in the NFL. I think he showed that this year with great matchups against Josh Gordon and when he matched up with Nuk Hopkins at times during their first matchup.
Like any position, there are external factors that you can’t control. It is hard to cover a guy in man coverage when you get no pass rush and the opposing QB has 6 seconds to throw. However, when the pass rush is there, even a little bit Adoree Jackson has proven to be more than up to the task of covering opposing WRs no matter who it is.
He had such a good year that Dean Pees broke his protocol and actually used him as a shadow cornerback for a while so that Malcolm Butler could focus on the other team’s worst WRs. Not only did this work well enough, but it also gave Butler time to get his head back above water for what was a great bounce back in the second half of the season.
Jackson is one of the most fundamentally sound players on the roster and he is a part of what may be the Titans biggest strength in the DBs.