J.C. Jackson Rumors: NFL Insider Suggests Patriots Might Now Trade CB

J.C. Jackson might now have a contract for 2021, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be with the New England Patriots next season.

The cornerback signed his second-round restricted free agent tender Friday, which means teams no longer can give him an offer sheet. NESN.com’s Doug Kyed reported the news Friday afternoon, and the team later made it official, with Jackson himself confirming the news on Instagram.

But NFL insider Ian Rapoport theorized that Jackson could ultimately be traded.

“This is not the end of the story because while this means he us not going to sign the an offer sheet, or a restricted free agent offer sheet with anyone, it doesn’t necessarily mean he is going to be on the team next year,” Rapoport said. “What the team could do, and we saw this with Malcolm Butler with the Patriots several years back, is they could offer a lower draft pick than a second-rounder to potentially trade for JC Jackson. A trade that would also come with a contract extension. I would expect that at some point to come up in conversations from other teams.”

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Jackson will definitely be traded, but the door for that to happen is very much ajar.