With the 108th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings selected Khyree Jackson, a CB out of Oregon. Jackson has a fascinating backstory. At one point, he gave up football and was Employee of the Month at a grocery store before returning through the JuCo route and playing at Alabama and Oregon. Jackson will have a great chance to compete in Minnesota’s cornerback room, which only has Byron Murphy as a bona fide starter. Given Jackson’s unassailable confidence, it’s certain that he will give Akayleb Evans, Mekhi Blackmon, and Andrew Booth Jr. a run for their money from Day 1.
Jackson occupies an interesting space as a prospect because he’s an older player — he’ll be 25 before the season starts — who lacks experience. He was part of the 2017 recruiting class. However, he first played college football in 2019, had his season canceled in 2020, and played just 197 snaps over two seasons at Alabama before becoming a starter for Oregon in 2023. He’s a raw player, and that’s typically a bad sign for a prospect of his age. However, given his circumstances, I believe there’s a significantly higher chance for him to reach his ceiling than most other prospects who come out later in their college careers.
What’s so enticing about Jackson’s ceiling? It starts with his athletic profile. Jackson has rare height and length for a DB, at 6’3 3/4″ with 32 3/4″ arms. He paired that size with great jumps, including an 11’1″ broad jump, and came up with a fine 4.50-second 40-yard dash despite a slow start. His 1.83-second flying 20 was blazing fast, which he shows in his recovery speed.
Given that athletic profile, Jackson looks like an outside corner, and that’s exactly what he played at Oregon. I was able to watch three games, against Colorado, USC, and Washington, to see what Jackson offers to Minnesota.
Press technique
Jackson’s lack of experience shows up when he tries to press opponents. He is overaggressive with his hands and ends up leaning and getting out of position quickly against opponents with solid release packages. He can also get baited into taking a false step on a receiver’s release.
However, the results are excellent when he gets it right. In the play below, he wins the rep so strongly that the receiver steps out of bounds and becomes ineligible.
In the next play, he is at the top of the screen and able to turn with the receiver from the press and squeeze him to the sideline, eliminating any throwing window, leading to a PBU.
The flashes are very much there. This play shows nice patience: He forces the receiver to declare before flipping his hips and runs stride for stride with him downfield.
On this play, Jackson is on the receiver at the top of the screen and makes strong contact on the release, forcing the receiver to stop in his tracks before trailing the slant across the field. This strong rep would have prevented an on-time throw regardless of the poor offensive protection.
Like the compilation above shows, Jackson’s press reps have a number of lows mixed in with the highs. To succeed at the next level, he will need to improve his punch timing and hand fighting, learn to stay patient more consistently, and avoid flipping his hips too soon. However, Jackson easily has the physical ability to do so, so it’s a matter of improving at his craft.
man coverage
Press ability is a big help in man coverage, but it’s not the only part. Speed and change-of-direction skills are critical for CBs to stay in phase with the receiver they are covering. Routes that cross the field are particularly difficult for CBs who are playing man because they have to read the break appropriately and quickly open up their stride to match their opponent, who is running across the field. Jackson consistently defends these routes at a high level. He’s able to disrupt the route at the line with his press and then stay in the receiver’s hip pocket as he crosses the field.
For taller players, stopping and deftly changing direction can often be difficult. However, Jackson often makes this look trivial. There are a few examples of him running his opponent’s route for him on tape. This play against Colorado was particularly impressive:
While Jackson had impressive displays of short-area quickness, he struggled to cover curls. There are multiple instances of Jackson slipping and allowing significant separation on initial vertical routes that break off hard at the sticks. He was great at covering deeper comebacks and on the crossers shown above. The deficiency may come from believing he needs to fully open up his stride to match deep speed and then having trouble transitioning with the receiver’s cut. Properly run curls are difficult to defend in man coverage, and this is something he will have to improve on moving forward:
Overall, Jackson is a strong man-coverage player. If he succeeds on his press, he frequently shuts down opponent routes across the field. He has impressive movement skills in general, let alone for his size. However, Jackson still can overcommit to particular routes and allow separation. As he gets a better field and more comfortable in coverage, his results against curls will hopefully improve.
zone coverage and instincts
In the games I watched, Jackson played a significant amount of press man or press Cover 3, which are very similar for a CB when defending the outside vertical routes opponents love to run. As such, there were a limited number of true zone reps in the sample I watched.
Jackson does a good job of communicating and passing off routes that leave his responsibility in zone. In the play below, you can see him point when the receiver goes under. However, the switch release leads to a player entering his area as he’s communicating, and Jackson leaves enough of a cushion for a completion if the ball had been thrown. I’d like to see him do a better job of recognizing the switch and sticking to the new player entering his zone.
Jackson does appear to be instinctive in recognizing what is going on in front of him. For example, when defending route breaks, on the play below, he did a great job of recognizing a misdirection play and peeling off of the slant to make a quick tackle in the flat.
Playing zone, and particularly playing off at the sticks, is an important component of Brian Flores’ defense on critical downs when the team blitzes. Jackson must continue to grow his ability to read, react, and stick with receivers to succeed in zone coverage at the NFL level.
Ball Skills
Jackson is skilled at recognizing when the receiver is transitioning to catch the ball and then disrupting the throwing lane. He only allowed a 50% catch rate when targeted last year, per PFF, and broke up eight of his 38 targets. Only one player (SMU’s Charles Woods) had more pass breakups (11) on fewer targets (37) last season.
Jackson’s ball skills consistently show up on tape. The two plays above, where he defends the comeback and vertical route, are also great ball skills examples. However, he recovered well on one of the press reps that he lost and made a nice play to deflect the ball:
Jackson can anticipate where routes are in the progression and drive on them. On the play below, he’s in man coverage out of the bunch and recognizes a return route by the receiver. After playing off in the flat, he accelerates to collision with the route, which would be arriving when he impacts the WR if it was thrown with anticipation.
Even on a contested-catch loss Jackson had, he was in great position and came close to knocking the pass away. The receiver just made a nice play.
In all, Jackson’s length and instincts in coverage are great assets to him when playing the ball in the air. Some larger corners play smaller than they are with the ball in the air (anyone remember Chris Cook?), but that is not the case for Jackson. He uses every inch of his size to his advantage.
Run Defense/Tackling
Despite his length, Jackson lacks great play strength. A CB weighing in at 194 lbs. is usually on the heavy side, but Jackson is skinny, considering his frame. When blocked or taken on physically, he often gets overpowered by his opponent. You can create a lowlight reel of Jackson taking on blocks. Here it is:
However, Jackson doesn’t lack for aggression coming downhill against the run. It’s not always technically sound, but the will is there. In the play below, Jackson forces a cut back inside when he comes downhill to set the edge:
That lack of discipline is evident in the play below, where he fails to contain the edge and allows extra yardage.
Jackson will stick with plays and consistently brings down ball carriers if he gets a hand on them. Here is a nice play where he saves a TD after a teammate misses a tackle:
Jackson may not have good play strength yet, but willingness is half the battle when it comes to playing the run as a CB. The Vikings will try to mold his willingness to get physical into the technique of a stronger player who plays gap sound against the run.
conclusion
Khyree Jackson offers unique length at the CB position, paired with movement ability that is occasionally eye-popping on tape. This combination makes it easy to fall in love with him as a prospect with incredible upside. When it comes to the technical side of the game, Jackson needs work.
Jackson needs to improve his consistency in his press technique, learning to play more patiently and not overextending when trying to jam receivers. The flashes lead me to believe there’s a lot for Minnesota’s coaching staff to unlock. In man coverage, Jackson shows a strong ability to anticipate and stick with opposing WRs through their route breaks, which is enticing for a player his size. He must learn to trust his long speed, which is good once he reaches it, to enable him to play tighter against curl routes. His long-legged frame probably prevents quick acceleration, which could turn into a concern against high-end players.
In zone, Jackson shows a good foundation with his ability to identify and communicate route combinations and work through misdirection, although he must try to close out on routes better. When playing the ball in the air, Jackson has great timing and consistently disrupts passes from opposing QBs. These instincts are hard to teach and will serve him well as he moves forward. He is also physical in run defense and sticks his nose into the play. Even if he lacks play strength and sometimes takes incorrect angles, the desire to attack the run is half the battle.
Overall, Khyree Jackson has sky-high potential in a raw package. His age, combined with technical issues, probably prevented him from becoming a Day 2 pick. But as a Day 3 player, Jackson has a chance to vastly outperform his draft position.
