2019 NFL Draft Profile: Mike Jackson

2019 NFL Draft Profile: Mike Jackson

Lance Roffers
Lance Roffers
Mike Jackson came to Miami as a 3-star prospect on 247Sports’ composite board from the state of Alabama. Despite the fact that Jackson had the frame of what teams are looking for in a cornerback prospect, he was lightly recruited and played sparingly his first two seasons with the Hurricanes. As a junior, Jackson burst onto the scene, solidifying himself as a draft prospect before ultimately deciding to return for his senior season. It proved to be a good decision as Jackson was an honorable mention All-ACC player, posting 42 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and six pass breakups on the season.

Pre-Draft Measurables

Height:
6 ft. ½”

Weight: 210

Arm: 32 ½”

Wingspan: 77 ¼”

Hand: 9 ¾”

40 Yard Dash: 4.45

3-Cone: 7.12

Broad Jump: 10’ 10”

Vertical: 40 ½”

225 Lb. Bench: 13

All testing results are from his time at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

Strengths

Size and length

The NFL is absolutely searching for length and height at cornerback to combat today’s Height/Weight/Speed freaks at the wide receiver position. Jackson has the arm length, wingspan, and height to fit into today’s NFL game.

Explosiveness
It is not often that a player with Jackson’s size and length also checks important boxes in the 40-yard dash and the vertical jump. Jackson fits into defensive schemes that look to shrink passing lanes by utilizing length to jam receivers at the line of scrimmage (LOS) and still have the speed to get back deep if they need to.

Work Ethic
Most NFL draft prospects work hard, but Jackson can point to two areas of improvement from his college time to give tangible examples of his work ethic. First is the improvement in his athleticism testing. Coming out of high school, Jackson ran an electronic time of 4.67 in the 40-yard dash and had a vertical jump of only 34.8”. Shaving over two tenths off your 40-time may not sound like much, but it is statistically a significant number compared to testing research I have completed. Jackson completed these testing numbers while weighing 22 pounds more than he weighed coming out of high school. Hard work indeed.

The second example is the improvement in his tackling and physicality. Many cornerbacks are knocked for their inability or unwillingness to make a tackle in space, but Jackson worked extremely hard to turn from what a coach once called “soft” to one of the best tacklers on the entire team.

Weaknesses

Scheme Fit

Many will see Jackson as a scheme-specific player due to his tight hips and trouble with inside-breaking routes. Jackson flourishes when he is asked to play press-man or cover-2, but he struggles when asked to play zone or off-coverage. Jackson also struggles with slants and inside breaking routes if he is not in press coverage. Struggling with off-coverage is a knock on his film that will cause some teams to significantly lower his grade and even remove him from some team’s boards altogether. Other teams see this deficiency as significant enough to warrant a move to safety at the pro level.

Ball Skills
Jackson has made major strides with his ability to locate the ball in the air with his back to the LOS, but he still has not completed the play often enough to translate to the pro game. A lack of interceptions or game-changing plays coupled with his lack of quick-twitch change of direction skills will limit his upside at the next level.

Draft Projection: Round 4
In certain games Jackson will look like a potential first-round prospect, but the more you watch of his tape and identify the deficiencies in his game you see there are enough questions to relegate him to the third-day. Jackson has proven himself to me in his ability to take coaching and improve on his weaknesses enough to believe he could end up outperforming this draft slot by a large margin.
The team that drafts Jackson will need to have a plan for how to cover up his weaknesses while allowing him the opportunities to use his length to his advantage. Would shine in a Seattle Seahawks type scheme where length and size are coveted. If he goes to a zone team where he is asked to play off-coverage he will struggle.
 

Comments (6)

Physical cbs that can lock down in man coverage get paid the big money. His physicality makes him versatile as a DB. I think he’s a 1st round talent that should get drafted no later than the 2nd round. It’s a laundry list of cbs that have been drafted in the first 2 rounds that I would take Mike Jackson over.
 
I agree on the scouting report but feel that he will have a decent NFL based on his upside and recent evidence of hard work and substantial improvement.
 
I feel he should go no later than the 3 round.
 
Physical cbs that can lock down in man coverage get paid the big money. His physicality makes him versatile as a DB. I think he’s a 1st round talent that should get drafted no later than the 2nd round. It’s a laundry list of cbs that have been drafted in the first 2 rounds that I would take Mike Jackson over.
Like clockwork.
 
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Best of luck to MJ in the NFL Draft today, or more likely tomorrow or Saturday. Wherever he lands, his work ethic and abilities will carry him. I wish him nothing but the highest of success.
 
This CB class low key kind of stinks...same with the safety class.

I'd take Michael Jackson ahead of a lot of guys that will likely be drafted ahead of him.

The same will be said for Redwine.

Most of the top safeties in the class are all the same dude...they all are glorified nickel cover guys that played the run heavy in college...even Adderley from Delaware played most of his snaps close to the line...he doesn't have a ton of deep center field snaps, but at least he has some. Gardner, Abram, Thornhill, Rapp, etc...all played some similar roles. I'd take Redwine over a few of these guys and you're getting him much later in the draft. The same will be said for Michael Jackson. Super athletic, long arm corner with as much experience and playmaking ability? I'm not overthinking MJ.
 
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