The Seattle Seahawks sent cornerback Michael Jackson to the Carolina Panthers in an NFL trade on Thursday as the former Spain Park standout moved from a team with a logjam at his position to one with a glaring need.
The Seahawks traded Jackson for rookie linebacker Michael Barrett, a seventh-round draft pick who played for current Seattle coach Mike Macdonald when he was the defensive coordinator at Michigan.
Jackson started every game for the Seahawks in 2022, but his playing time dropped after Seattle selected Devon Witherspoon at No. 5 in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Witherspoon joins Riq Woolen as the Seahawks’ starting cornerbacks. Woolen in 2022 and Witherspoon in 2023 were Pro Bowl selections as rookies.
Carolina’s depth chart shows Jaycee Horn and Dane Jackson as the starting cornerbacks. The eighth pick in the 2021 draft, Horn has played in 22 games in three seasons because of injuries. A free-agent signing, Jackson started 28 games in four seasons with the Buffalo Bills. Jackson sustained a hamstring injury at training camp that is expected to sideline him for the start of the regular season.
Their listed backups, D’Shawn Jamison and Dicaprio Bootle, have played 107 and 221, respectively, defensive snaps in their NFL careers.
Jackson re-signed with the Seahawks on April 8 after the team placed an original-round tender on him as a restricted free agent. By tendering Jackson, Seattle kept him from becoming an unrestricted free agent and guaranteed him a salary of$3.039 million for the 2024 season if he re-signed with the team.
Jackson entered the NFL from Miami (Fla.) as a fifth-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 2019. In his first three NFL seasons, he played 29 defensive snaps in four games while appearing on the rosters of the Cowboys, Detroit Lions, New England Patriots and Seahawks.
But in 2022, Jackson started every game for Seattle and played 1,082 defensive snaps. He made 75 tackles, intercepted one pass and broke up 11 more. In Seattle’s 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 18, 2022, Jacksonscored his first NFL touchdownwhenhe picked up a blocked field-goal attempt and ran 86 yards.
In response, the Seahawks signed Jackson to a one-year, $940,000 contract. Then Seattle drafted Witherspoon and started him in Jackson’s spot.
In 2023, Jackson played in every game, with four starts, for Seattle. He made 34 tackles, registered two tackles for loss and broke up five passes while playing 472 defensive snaps. Jackson also had a career-high 236 special-teams plays last season.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.