Denver Broncos strong safety Kareem Jackson (22) tosses a football around prior to the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
Broncos’ safety Kareem Jackson went one-on-one with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell last month following the veteran’s most recent suspension by the league for an illegal hit.
Jackson said at the time that he sought clarity on how he was supposed to play, but recently acknowledged that the NFL is asking him to do the “impossible.”
“I feel a lot better leaving being able to express myself, but I was told that I’m responsible for the offensive guys’ protection,”
Jackson said, via DenverSports.com.
“But that’s what I was told, and I’m not really sure what I do moving forward as far as playing this game, so, hopefully I’ll figure it out.”
Jackson has been suspended for a total of six games this season and is currently serving a four-game suspension for a hit on Vikings quarterback Joshua Dobbs on Nov. 19.
That hit also led to Jackson being ejected and the safety has also been fined $89,670 along with missing a significant amount of game checks.
“I was asked, ‘What would these guys say that I’m hitting?’”
Jackson said. And they say the same thing: ‘You’re trying to make a play just like I’m trying to make a play.’ I think Dobbs said it in his press conference after the game. Jackson admitted that he “didn’t think much would come”
out of his meeting with Goodell and said he plans to continue playing the same way he always has.
“At the end of the day, I’ve gotta still play the game,”
Jackson said.
As far as trying to protect the guy on the other side, it’s impossible. Jackson has already served three weeks of his four-game suspension and is eligible to return in Week 16 when Denver hosts the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve.
Denver Broncos suspended safety Kareem Jackson admittedly hasn’t learned his lesson after forfeiting nearly $1 million of his salary for a series of illegal hits that have resulted in a pair of ejections, multiple fines and six weeks’ worth of lost wages. That’s because the NFL isn’t a very good tutor, Jackson said.
The 14-year veteran argues he’s being singled out by the league and that the NFL has no adequate answers about how he’s supposed to change his hard-hitting playing style to conform to today’s game where the league scorns the collisions it once celebrated.
Jackson was granted an audience with Commissioner Roger Goodell two weeks ago following his second suspension and it didn’t exactly go as he had hoped.
“I was told that I’m responsible for the offensive guys’ protection,”
Jackson said Monday night before hosting 50 youth from the Boys & Girls Club of Denver for his annual “JackaClaus Shopping Spree” at a Walmart in suburban Parker.
https://twitter.com/jasrifootball/status/1735055888480927971?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1735055888480927971%7Ctwgr%5E4ba3f4467dd7286470ebb512da456dc0ccdcafd8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.overtimeheroics.net%2F2023%2F12%2F14%2Fi-was-told-that-im-responsible-for-the-offensive-guys-protection-broncos-safety-kareem-jackson-reflects-on-meeting-with-roger-goodell-says-safety-of-players-on-the-other-side%2F
“So, I’m not really sure how I protect myself, make plays and protect them, as well. And I’m not really sure what I do moving forward as far as playing this game.”
“At the end of the day,” added Jackson, “I’m going to go out and I’ll play the game as I have since 2010,”
Jackson said.
He drew his second suspension for the first tackle he made upon his return from his first suspension when he blasted Vikings quarterback Joshua Dobbs in Week 11.
Thanks largely to the heady, steady play of his replacement, PJ Locke, the first safety in team history to record sacks in three consecutive games, the Broncos (7-6) have won four of the five games Jackson has missed.
The Broncos trail the sliding Kansas City Chiefs (8-5) by just one game in the AFC West, and Jackson is eligible to return to practice next week ahead of the Broncos’ Christmas Eve game against New England.
Jackson has surrendered $837,000 in lost paychecks to go with the $89,670 he’s been fined for unsafe hits this season.
Jackson said his unflagged hit on Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco in Week 6 that drew a $43,709 fine was erased entirely by the league — but not before Goodell used it as an example of Jackson’s over-the-top tackles during their Nov. 30 meeting in New York.
Jackson said Goodell asked him why he would hit Pacheco like he did when the running back was going down and Jackson explained he’d already committed to going in low and that as elite as NFL athletes are, it’s impossible for any human to change his trajectory in that split-second and avoid the contact when the ballcarrier ducks at the very last moment.
“It’s impossible to play this game and do what you guys are asking us to do,”
Jackson said.
“Once I’m committed and I’m going, I can’t change.”
Besides, Jackson said,
“I’m the last line of defense. Two days after the league used the hit on Pacheco in their defense of Jackson’s suspension, the league “turned around and gave me all my money back for it,”
Jackson said.
“And then I was just like, ‘Why would you give me all my money back from the Kansas City hit?”
Jackson said that on Dec. 4, he sent a thank-you note to Goodell for meeting with him and he attached cut-ups of other unflagged, un-fined hits across the NFL this season.
“And I said, ‘I can’t help but think you guys are singling me out because these guys aren’t getting flagged, there’s no consequences and these are far worse hits than mine,’”
Jackson said.
In a rant on Stephen A. Smith show last month, Tom Brady said the level of play in the NFL has deteriorated just since his retirement on Feb. 1, and one reason he gave for the mediocrity he lamented was the league’s insistence that defenders have to keep offensive players out of harm’s way.
“It’s not up to a defensive player to protect an offensive player,”
Brady ranted.
“A defensive player needs to protect himself. Exactly, said Jackson. It should be their responsibility and their job to protect themselves.”
Some of the reactions of fans were:
This is the embodiment of everything that's wrong with America. Shame on Robert Goodell.
— EvilMattCanada (@TheMattCanada) December 13, 2023
This is the embodiment of everything that's wrong with America. Shame on Robert Goodell.
— EvilMattCanada (@TheMattCanada) December 13, 2023
This smells like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
— Chugs (@ChugDeezNutz) December 13, 2023
@NFL needs to do better. Even more, the @NFLPA needs to do WAY better!!! Players include more than just those on the offensive side of the ball
— World’s Okayest Lawyer (@worldsoklawyer) December 14, 2023
Make tackles without using your head. Probably a good place to start. Some of the plays he’s made this year don’t even look like football.
— Caden Oiler (@cadenoiler10) December 14, 2023
https://twitter.com/allballboston/status/1735056398164078677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1735056398164078677%7Ctwgr%5E4ba3f4467dd7286470ebb512da456dc0ccdcafd8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.overtimeheroics.net%2F2023%2F12%2F14%2Fi-was-told-that-im-responsible-for-the-offensive-guys-protection-broncos-safety-kareem-jackson-reflects-on-meeting-with-roger-goodell-says-safety-of-players-on-the-other-side%2F
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