Film Room: Get Excited about McKinnley Jackson

The Bengals needed a tackle, and this pick was on the nose.

DJ Reader is irreplaceable. Still, the Cincinnati Bengals need someone who can fill his cleats. There was a time when guys like Gilbert Brown, Tony Siragusa, and BJ Raji were easy to find in both the free agent market and the draft.

Unfortunately, in today’s world, it’s much easier to find a Boston Lager than a Sam Adams.

The scarcity of this skillset makes it hard to believe that many are questioning the value of using a third-round comp pick on Texas A&M’s McKinnley Jackson. While he may not have a direct impact on the passing game, Jackson’s skillset is exactly what the Bengals need in a nose tackle.

Two players were unblocked on this play because the offense decided they needed to dedicate the center and both guards to blocking Jackson. Not surprisingly, this resulted in a tackle for a loss for the Texas A&M defense. This won’t show up on any stat sheet, but Jackson made this play happen.

Of course, the most impressive thing about this play is that those three players fail to get any kind of movement on Jackson. He pulls on the center and rolls his hips away from the left guard, successfully pulling all three blockers down on him and preventing them from blocking any of his teammates.

This is exactly what the Bengals need. A nose tackle who can occupy blocks and space and allow Germaine Pratt and Logan Wilson to make plays.

Of course, Jackson can get off blocks and make tackles, too. Here, the guard gives him a shot on the way to the linebacker. This is supposed to give the center enough help so that he can keep Jackson out of the playside A-gap. It fails.

Jackson comes off the ball fast and rolls his hips through the center, pushing him into the backfield. He quickly recovers from the guard’s sorry attempt at a combo block and disengages from the block to make the clothesline tackle.

Jackson (2nd player in Maroon from the top) absolutely destroys this play but pushing the guard deep into the backfield.

Jackson has great leverage and keeps his feet moving, driving the guard back and forcing the running back to make a jump cut three yards deep in the backfield. The ball carrier has to go way outside and is eventually tackled for a loss.

Another play that was made by Jackson but will not appear on the stat sheet.

Jackson isn’t all power, though. Here, his (3rd player in maroon from the bottom) get-off is too fast for the left tackle. The result is a tackle for a loss.

One of the knocks on Jackson is that he doesn’t have enough tackles for a loss, but that is because he is often a two-gap player taking up space. On plays like this, where he has a single gap, he gets into the backfield and makes plays.

Jackson is not going to make his money by rushing the passer and shouldn’t see much action in passing situations. Still, he isn’t a complete non-factor in the passing game.

In this clip, two players are committed to blocking him, but Jackson comes free with a sweet spin move and chases down the quarterback for a sack.

Jackson is an excellent nose tackle prospect who will have an immediate impact for the Bengals as a situational, rotational player and develop into a larger role by his second year. He will be particularly important in divisional games in the run-heavy AFC North.