The recently signed cornerback brings NFL game experience to a young unit that lacks it
After the Los Angeles Rams cornerback room was threatened by early-training camp injuries to Darious Williams and Derion Kendrick, the L.A. braintrust moved quickly and brought in free agent Jerry Jacobs to help stem the tide.
After three seasons with the Detroit Lions, Jacobs was not tendered a 2024 Restricted Free Agent contract. Although he had previous offseason visits with the Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons, and Carolina Panthers, the flirtations did not produce a deal. The Rams were suddenly dealing with two injured corners and a third worry, the unsure status of Tre’Davious White’s return to form from major injury. L.A. did not hesitate, signing Jacobs to a one year deal. overthecap.com values it at $1.055 mil with no guaranteed money.
Signed to Motown undrafted out of Arkansas in 2021, draft pundits did not expect Jacobs to have much of an impact in the NFL. Nonetheless, he made that Lions opening roster and went on to play in 40 games, with 29 starts and 1822 defensive snaps with Detroit. Over that period, he accumulated four interceptions, 23 passes defended, and 131 tackles.
Jacobs path to the NFL was filled with twists and turns. Raised by older sisters because his father was not part of his life and his mother passed away when he was just nine years, he played high school ball in Georgia. His college career started at a JUCO, Hutchison Community College in Kansas and following red shirt and All-Conference seasons, he moved up to Arkansas State and the D1 Sunbelt Conference. As a red shirt sophomore he was named second-team All-Sunbelt. In his junior year, he started the first four games before tearing a knee ACL and missing the remainder of the season. Jacobs decided to follow his JUCO coach and transferred to SEC Arkansas for 2020. After four games at both corner and safety, he decided to take the COVID-19 opt out and prepare for the NFL draft.
His frame is put together very well and Jacobs appears to be cut more like a safety than corner, while his athleticism is average, maybe a hair above. At the 2021 Arkansas Pro Day, Jacobs was measured at 5’ 10 1/4” 208 lb., with 30 5/8” arms and 9 3/8” hands. His 40-yard speed over distance was 4.53 with a 1.64 10-yard split. Pushing 20 reps on the bench press showed stellar upper body strength, while a 10’ broad jump and 34.5” vertical denotes his leg strength and lower body explosiveness as average. Good change of direction and short-area agility with a 6.95 3cone, although a 4.33 shuttle time is slightly below cornerback standards for flexibility, burst, and balance.
Is Jerry Jacobs an injury waiting to happen, part of the corner rotation, or a camp body?
A very fair question.
In his three Detroit Lions seasons, Jacobs had stints on the IR in all of them. Knee surgery forced him out the final four games of 2021 and the opening five in 2022. He barely played in the Lions final four games of 2023 (one defensive snap) and was placed on the IR with knee/thigh issues prior to Detroit’s playoff run. He also had knee surgery in 2019, while playing for Arkansas State.
I watched five 2023 game films and thought his play was quite similar throughout. Jacobs played primarily outside and in zone and is much better in zone coverage than man. He does give up a lot of cushion, SIS DataHub set his completion percentage at 62.7, but his deserved catch rate jumped up to 83.3%. He particularly struggled against in-breaking routes and was at his best when covering down the sideline.
He got a fairly large amount of tackles (55) as compared to snaps (709), so he’s obviously willing in run support and was both aggressive in charging downhill to the line of scrimmage and pursuing the ball. His problem is that he not a good tackler, he seldom puts his shoulder into it and doesn’t wrap up. He’s an ankle biter, diving at opposing runner’s legs which leads to a lot of broken and missed tackles. In fact, he missed 17 in 2023 for a sky high 23.6% rate. It’s not an outlier, his three-year running average is 22.7%.
Even if Jacobs stays healthy, it is very hard to make a case for him being part of the Rams secondary in the long term. His past play, while fair, doesn’t really warrant it and his skillset doesn’t offer much of a development project upside. His current value in L.A. would appear to be as a fill-in, predicated on an emergency need and a shared past relationship with defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant.
In the end, being doubted is nothing new to Jerry Jacobs. The odds may say no and random chance adds a maybe, but his ultimate fate will be in his own hands and decided on the practice field.
