One key question heading into the offseason was going to be what happened with defensive back J.C. Jackson, who ended up on the reserve/non-football injury list due to what his agent told media outlets was due to mental health issues.
Would the Patriots extend him? Or would his tenure come to an end?
Well, it appears we have our answer.
According to multiple reports, the Patriots have parted ways with the embattled cornerback, ending his tenure with the club less than a year after making a deal with the Rams to bring him back to New England.
With Jackson carrying a cap hit of over $14 million, the Patriots didn’t have much choice when it came to deciding on his future. They either needed to restructure his deal and extend him, or do what they did today and cut their losses.
The news comes just one day after head coach Jerod Mayo told reporters that they were still deciding how they were going to handle the situation.
“Those discussions are still going,” said Mayo. “Look, I love J.C., coached him, saw him develop into a man. We’ll see how that goes going forward. But, look, heck of a football player, two years removed from injury, he’s probably going to move a lot better this year, so we’ll see.”
Salary cap expert Miguel Benzan reports that the move has freed up $13.46 million in cap space, putting the Patriots over the $100 million mark heading into free agency. He has New England with $100,333,802 in available space following the transaction.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
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