Three Carolina Panthers rookies who stepped up in 2018

Donte Jackson

The Panthers were looking for a replacement for Josh Norman on the defensive side of the football and they found it in Donte Jackson. Sometimes defensive rookies can struggle a little bit, and that did not appear to be the case for Jackson in 2018. Although he did have his setbacks here and there, he proved to be a very mature football player and he anchored the Carolina secondary for most of the season.

Jackson ranked first among rookie defenders with four interceptions on the season. He also ranked eighth in the league in tackles with 63. Tied with Houston Texans rookie strong safety Justin Reid with 13 pass deflections and had a sack on the season as well. He truly did it all, and it was noticeable when he was not on the field. It was very noticeable in the game against the Seattle Seahawks on November 25. Once he left the game, Captain Munnerlyn and Mike Adams came to take over the game. Quite frankly, as result of that, the Panthers lost the game.

It will be exciting to see what Jackson does in his second year. My guess is that he will continue to be relied upon in the secondary. That is a unit in particular that needs to focus on getting better. They gave up a lot of deep passes and lost many matchups with receivers. Depending on who the new defensive coordinator is if at all, a style change may be in order. That unit in particular needs to focus on playing well as a team and not leaving it up to one player only.

Oftentimes, it felt like Jackson was the only player on the secondary that was effective. His best game of the season defensively came against Washington. He recorded an 83.6 defensive rating., It is most effective rushing the passer as he recorded a rating of 81 per statistics from Pro football Focus. Be interesting to see if he can build off that in 2019. If he can become a strong pass rusher from the secondary position as well as continue to be a great coverage man, that could only bode well.