Packers trade CB Josh Jackson to Giants for CB Isaac Yiadom

A swap of former top-100 picks in the last year of their rookie deals sends a 19-game starter to Green Bay.

With only a few hours before the NFL collectively cuts their 90-man rosters to 85-man rosters, the Packers and Giants struck a trade to send cornerback Isaac Yiadom to Green Bay, according to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan. The compensation for Yiadom is former second-round cornerback Josh Jackson, per ESPN’s Rob Demovsky.

Yiadom, a former third-round pick, played in 29 games and made nine starts with the Denver Broncos in the 2018 and 2019 seasons before being traded to New York for a seventh-round pick last September. Last season, Yiadom played in all 16 games with the Giants and recorded 10 starts for the team.

Currently, Yiadom is on the last season of his rookie deal. In total, he’s slated to make $1.07 million in 2021 between his base salary and per-game active roster bonuses, per Spotrac. In 2020, Yiadom was the 17th-most-played Giant on special teams, per Pro Football Reference, so one would think he was brought in to play defense and not contribute in the kicking game.

Like Yiadom, Jackson is also in his last season on his rookie contract. Jackson, who has played in 42 games and has made 15 starts with the Packers, most recently had a poor showing in last week’s preseason game against the Houston Texans. It’s worth noting that yesterday, in the team’s first practice since their preseason opener against the Texans, Jackson was passed on the depth chart at outside cornerback by Kabion Ento, per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein.

Expect Yiadom to push Ento and Ka’dar Hollman, an outside cornerback with special teams potential, for a roster spot behind the trio of Jaire Alexander, Kevin King, and rookie first-round pick Eric Stokes. With slotbacks Chandon Sullivan and rookie draft pick Shemar Jean-Charles also likely making the roster, assume that the race for cornerback roster spots will come down to the August 31st wire.