Bengals Free Agency: Cincinnati would be a Superteam with J.C. Jackson

Bengals free agency is a little over a week away from officially getting underway and one of the best names expected to hit the open market is cornerback J.C. Jackson. If the Cincinnati Bengals could find a way to get Jackson in the orange and black stripes, they’d be one step closer to being a Superteam in 2022.

Crazy enough, Jackson went undrafted in the 2018 NFL Draft and eventually found his way to New England. After four terrific seasons with the Patriots, Jackson — who is only 26 years old — is going to be one of the hottest commodities in free agency.

Jackson put together an amazing season in 2021, defending 23 passes and recording an astounding eight interceptions through 17 starts. He’s been mostly durable during his four-year career and is in line to get a massive payday.

Pro Football Focus projects that Jackson will earn a four-year deal worth $72 million. This would keep him in the Queen City until he’s 30 years old so the opportunity for another huge payday would definitely be there.

Bengals Free Agency: J.C. Jackson is a dream target

Everyone knows that Cincinnati will be fixating predominantly on finding offensive linemen this offseason because that was the reason they lost the Super Bowl. Their lack of protection for Joe Burrow proved costly and that’s why the Bengals will likely put a lot of their funds into the o-line.

With that said, however, Cincinnati still needs help in their secondary. Chidobe Awuzie is returning in 2022 but the team is losing Eli Apple and Trae Waynes this offseason (well, they should be losing Waynes) and need to find a CB2 moving forward. Pairing Awuzie and Jackson in the secondary would give the Bengals one of the best defenses in the league.

I’d be surprised if J.C. Jackson ended up in Cincinnati but at the same time, they have the cap space to add key players and Jackson would give them a shutdown corner for the foreseeable future.