2024 Steelers Trade Acquisition: CB Donte Jackson 2023 Run Defense Data

After doing a 2023 coverage study on CB Donte Jackson, I wanted to learn more about the trade acquisition. Jackson was acquired as part of the Dionte Johnson deal with the Carolina Panthers. Today, let’s look at and provide some date context on Jackson in the run game for the Panthers last season, along with the 2023 Steelers cornerbacks (with at least 125 snaps) to get a gauge of the loss/gains from a stats perspective.

Let’s start with run snaps and average depth of tackle for quantity of plays and yardage comparatively:

Jackson led the players in our sights in run snaps (420), which was eighth-most (out of 117 qualifiers) at the position in 2023. That volume is important to recall as we dive deeper and an encouraging aspect to the expectation of filling the CB2 role in Pittsburgh this season. Jackson has prior experience staying on the field in vast quantities, including run downs.

Jackson was also above the mean (slightly) with a 5.6 average depth of tackle, tying for 53rd among his peers. Not an impressive ranking on the surface, but seeing only a few dots above him on the extreme top right re-emphasizes the volume component, along with faring stronger than most 2023 Steelers.

Patrick Peterson had a similar 407 run snaps (10th-most), but had a below-average 7.2 average depth of tackle. It’s important to point out that varied snap alignments are an important factor in the equation, with Jackson playing a ton at outside corner, compared to Peterson moving around the formation far more.

This is also true for Chandon Sullivan, who played the vast majority at slot corner. He did have the strongest 4.7 average depth of tackle of players in our sights, but the least run snaps (141), which ranked 106th out of 117 qualifiers. Quality but on a very limited sample size.

To further these points, here are their 2023 opportunities by alignment:

Specific context here to how different Jackson, Peterson, and Sullivan’s alignments were. Making it important to weigh into the equation on run defense, starting with their depths of tackle.

For example, Peterson’s 18.9-percent at safety, which is of course way off the line of scrimmage, blew everyone else’s number out of the water. Or, Sullivan’s slot and box reps dominating his opportunities, so closer to the ball carrier, which aids his healthiest average depth of tackle.

Then, Joey Porter Jr. and Levi Wallace aligned more similarly, with the former faring better on the opening data points. Porter had a slightly above average 271 run snaps (53rd), but a 7.9 average depth of tackle that tied for 89th his rookie year. Run defense is a very important aspect to the expected second year jump that will include more opportunities, hopefully being stout with Jackson on the outside.

Another important element the Porter/Jackson duo are the only ones on the Steelers roster currently. Yet to be mentioned is Levi Wallace, who signed with the Broncos. He was the only focused player below the mean in run snaps and average depth of tackle. Interestingly, Peterson and Sullivan are still available free agents, so a reunion with one or both could happen.

Now let’s look at types of run tackles, solo versus assisted:

More aspects Jackson’s 2023 run defense that fared best among players in our sights. He had 15 solo run tackles (T-17th), along with five assists that tied for 28th. Another player with five assists was Peterson, but had a lower 11 solo tackles (T-43rd). Again, alignments are important to recall, but Jacksons stronger results on similar snap opportunities are good to see.

The remaining cornerbacks were all below average. Porter: eight solo (T-68th), three assists (T-67th). Wallace: nine solo (T-59th), zero assists (T-113th). Sullivan: three solo (110th), one assist (T-99th).

Next, I wanted to see how the players fared in a ‘hit or miss’ type view with stop percentage, which uses the successful play rates formula (less than 40 percent on first down, 50 percent or less on second down, and third or fourth down plays kept from a first down or touchdown) and missed tackle percentage:

The first bit of unfortunate news for Jackson comes here. He had a poor 28.6 missed tackle rate, ranking very low at 101st, and was the worst among highlighted players. Having some missed tackles at his high volume is expected, but missing eight of them against the run in 2023 is far too many. Not what Pittsburgh fans want to hear following a 2023 season where the secondary had their share of issues as well.

Jackson did fare best among the players in our sights in stop rate, at a slightly above average 2.2-percent, tying for 37th. So, good things happened when he was able to make the play as a run tackler, but the ‘hit or miss’ view unfortunately emphasizes too much of the latter last season.

All four 2023 Steelers qualifiers were below average in stop rate, below two-percent, which really jumps out negatively. Here are their ranks in that regard: Sullivan (T-66th), Porter (T-94th), Peterson (T-94th), Wallace (T-111th).

Three of them had above the mean missed tackle rates. Sullivan had none, but important to recall his low number of snap opportunities. Peterson came in at 11.1-percent (T-36th), much better than Jackson on similar snap opportunities, which says a lot considering some painful ones etched in my head from 2023. Wallace came in below average in each again, a common theme across the entire study.

Let’s look at a more total view of how the players fared in the run game with PFF run defense grades along with points above average per play (a players EPA responsibility on run plays using the total points system that distributes credit among all players on the field for a given play, and accounts for defenders in the box, blown blocks forced, broken tackles, and turnovers) from Sports Info Solutions (SIS):

Not ideal plot points for any of the players in our sights, to say the least. Jackson did land above the mean (barely) in points above average, tying for 44th among his peers. The PFF grade came in much lower at 52.3 (91st), which makes sense considering they ding missed tackles heavily in their grading.

Porter had the only other above-average result, with a 63.8 PFF run defense grade that was best of focused players, and ranked 55th overall. SIS had him lower, tying for 88th in points above average. Peterson was close to the SIS mean, tying for 74th, while his 56.5 PFF run defense grade ranked 83rd.

As expected, Wallace and Sullivan landed much lower, near the bottom of the league by each grading services. Wallace: 107th by each. Sullivan: PFF – 108th, SIS – 110th.

To close, here’s a wrap up table and conclusion:

Overall, we can see that Jackson the strongest results. He was top ten in run snaps (eighth), so the volume as an outside corner primarily in Carolina’s defense was definitely there in 2023. Solo run tackles came with that, landing in the top-20 (T-17th). Jackson was also above average in assisted run tackles (T-28th), stop rate (T-37th), SIS points above average (T-44th), and average depth of tackle (T-53rd), encouragingly.

Less here, but Jackson’s substantially lower rankings were PFF run grade (91st), and more notably in my opinion missed tackle rate (101st) out of 117 qualifiers. The latter is appropriately the biggest concern coming out of the study, and will hopefully be much better with the black and gold in 2024. If so, Jackson’s addition could prove to be a solid one in run defense.

Pittsburgh could still stand to add to the position room, as they did with Jackson and in the 2024 draft, something they did Sunday by signing veteran corner Anthony Averett. The possibility of Peterson and/or Sullivan returning is possible too. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the offseason plays out in that regard.  Hopefully Jackson and the Steelers cornerback room fares well this season. Can’t wait to see how it all shakes out.