Can William Jackson III make an impact this year?
By Sheikh Uddin
William Jackson III has shown some flashes already, at the beginning of training camp for the Bengals.
The Bengals drafted William Jackson III in the first round of 2016 NFL draft as the best player available. Fans were mainly alright with this due to the run of wide receivers that occurred right before the pick of the Bengals. Jackson showed in college that he had elite athleticism, ball skills and great speed for a corner.
A lot of fans were also excited, due to many believing the Steelers were about to draft WJ3 if the Bengals hadn’t. The Steelers ended up drafting Artie Burns while Cincinnati landed Jackson. Many thought that he would be able to come in immediately and have an impact on the defense. But, an injury in training camp forced him to miss the whole season.
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If WJ3 wants to make an impact for the Bengals, he has a hard road to getting a lot of play time. He has three other first round picks who are fighting for snaps in Adam Jones, Dre Kirkpatrick and Darqueze Dennard. Now, Jackson is back on the field and has shown some flashes in during camp. He’s displayed some things that he had shown in college. Mainly, the ability to get his hands on the ball and play good coverage.
WJ3 won’t be expected to start due to Josh Shaw and Dennard also competing for the No.3 corner spot. I expect him to progress throughout the season and eventually take the spot from Dennard. The big thing for Jackson is to not get beat deep, even though he has a 4.3 forty in his resume. If he can hold his place and prevent the receiver from making a play, he will definitely be able to make an impact.
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Bengals fans will finally get a look at WJ3 in the first preseason game against Tampa Bay. Many will be looking at the new offensive pieces but some should definitely look at how Jackson performs. If he proves to play well like he was drafted to… he’s got huge potential.