FOXBOROUGH, Mass. New England Patriots cornerback JC Jackson, who was second in the NFL last season with nine interceptions, officially signed his second round of a limited-free agent tender on Friday, a source said.
The tender ties Jackson to a one-year, $ 3.38 million contract for 2021, and then he’s slated to be an unrestricted free agent next to the season.
The deadline for teams to sign limited free agents to offer sheets is April 23, and others around the NFL could soon follow Jackson’s lead. Green Bay tight end Robert Tonyan, who also entered the second round after getting eleven touchdowns last season, is one of the most notable.
One line of thought was that players like Jackson and Tonyan could have piqued interest from other teams, who could have signed them to offer sheets and then turned in a second round draft pick if the players’ teams refused to match.
But with a salary cap space at a premium in the NFL, there hasn’t been much traction in the off-season market for limited free agents.
Jackson, 25, is a New England success story after initially joining the team in 2018 as an undeveloped free agent from Maryland. He played in 45 regular season games, with 22 starts and a total of 17 interceptions.