FOXBORO, Mass. -- J.C. Jackson faces a situation in which no NFL player wants to be, but he has support from one of his former New England Patriots teammates.
Jackson, who signed a five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Chargers last March, is out for the season after dislocating his kneecap and rupturing his patellar tendon during Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks at SoFi Stadium. The 26-year-old cornerback was off to a rough start with his new team and now faces a long road back to the field.
Patriots safety Devin McCourty always spoke highly of Jackson during the star corner's time in New England. During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, McCourty revealed he recently reached out to Jackson and expects his old teammate to make a full comeback.
"Yeah, I hit him up," McCourty said. "I think ... as an older guy, I got to see (Jackson) come in undrafted and just grow and flourish and play at such a high level. Being that we played Monday and seeing (Jackson's injury the day before) and seeing him go down, I definitely reached out to him. Let him know I'm praying for him, if he needs anything, reach out to me. But injuries are a part of the game.
"I would say, overall, J.C.'s a tough kid. He's dealt with adversity and he's done a great job of flourishing and rebounding and keeping his head on straight when it comes to playing football. And, obviously, when you get hurt, it takes more -- you gotta really work to get back out there. And I'm pretty confident he will. He's a good dude and works hard. You wish he was still here and you could be there for him physically. I think he'll do a good job of coming back out there and being a good football player."
During his four seasons with the Patriots, Jackson led the NFL with a whopping 25 interceptions and made the Pro Bowl in 2021. He also won a Super Bowl with New England in 2018.
But the veteran corner had no interceptions in five games with the Chargers and even got benched in Week 6. That said, he remains a talented player who is more than capable of returning to a high level if he can overcome his knee injury.
As for the Patriots, they'll look to rebound from Monday's ugly home loss to the Chicago Bears when they visit the New York Jets this Sunday.
