The New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers made headlines with a blockbuster trade on Wednesday morning.
Following a shoulder injury to first-round pick Christian Gonzalez, which will leave the former Oregon Ducks product out indefinitely, the Patriots swung a trade for a familiar star defender in J.C. Jackson. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport was the first to report the news of Wednesday’s trade, as New England and Los Angeles will swap 2025 sixth and seventh-rounders, as part of the deal.
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Sources: The #Patriots are trading for #Chargers CB JC Jackson. A reunion! The compensation is a swap of late-round picks. Back where he started. pic.twitter.com/7h0A7iJcJS
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 4, 2023
The Chargers signed Jackson to a five-year, $82.5 million contract ahead of the 2022 NFL season. And Just three weeks into the 2023 season and year two of his contract, Los Angeles made Jackson a healthy scratch for the team’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.
In 2022, Jackson struggled before suffering a season-ending torn patellar tendon in Week 7. After totaling 17 interceptions over 2020-21 with the New England Patriots, Jackson had zero in five games with the Chargers in 2022. He had a league-high 23 pass deflections in 2021 before having just two pass deflections with the Chargers in 2022.
The NFL world was quick to react to the news that Jackson would be reuniting with his former team.
If Jackson is actually halfway decent in New England I’ll lose it https://t.co/W7K9fuFkOb
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) October 4, 2023
What in the hell? https://t.co/hFIRHAeIrD
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) October 4, 2023
He’s yours.
Get him out of here.
Just an absolute disaster if a tenure for Jackson in LA.
Got paid, and stopped working 🤷🏽♂️ https://t.co/WbaaZehcLu— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) October 4, 2023
Definitely one of those "check 11 times to make sure it's not fake Rap Sheet" type of tweets right here. https://t.co/fUiSAV8N6z
— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) October 4, 2023
https://twitter.com/dirtbagqueer/status/1709566623982530664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1709566623982530664%7Ctwgr%5Eb453a18cb740f0b72c5060ec993822394308a473%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fdirtbagqueer2Fstatus2F1709566623982530664widget%3DTweet
Bold move. Jackson has not played at the level he did when he was here. Speaks to the lack of depth the Pats have at the position and makes me wonder how long Gonzalez may be sidelined. https://t.co/x5wZYllCao
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) October 4, 2023
Wow. Figured this would happen at some point, but I’m stunned that the #Patriots would take on his contract. Wonder if there’s some sort of restructure in the works.
Like it from a football standpoint, though. They’ll get JC back to a starter level. https://t.co/uovH8EgOUx
— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) October 4, 2023
Wow. Patriots lose Christian Gonzalez and trade for JC Jackson. Crazy https://t.co/hBeXm2XCG6
— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) October 4, 2023
Bill Belichick to JC Jackson: https://t.co/FtMPaQ9km0 pic.twitter.com/TtHPwBdlXi
— Football (@BostonConnr) October 4, 2023
Belichick special: let him sign for tens of millions somewhere else. Get him back for a ham sandwich. https://t.co/OWs7q42mTI
— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) October 4, 2023
It remains to be seen if Jackson can revive his career where it started. The Patriots are in desperate need of cornerback help and perhaps a reunion with a familiar defense can help Jackson return to the player he was before he signed a huge free-agent contract with the Chargers.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.