Giants cornerback Adoree’ Jackson recently wrapped up a roller-coaster 2022 season. The highs came with him allowing just 51.7 percent of passes thrown his way to be completed, along with a stellar 83.9 passer rating against. Unfortunately for the Giants’ top CB, health was again an issue. After missing 21 games from 2019-21, Jackson missed seven this season after injuring his knee in Week 11 on a punt return. He returned just in time for the playoffs, coming back for the Giants’ wild-card-round win over the Vikings.
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After an up-and-down season, Jackson is looking forward to a calm offseason.
Jackson spoke with The Athletic about his injury, watching Brian Daboll win Coach of the Year at the NFL Honors ceremony and more during a promotional tour for his business, PorchPals:
What was it like watching Daboll win coach of the year?
It was cool. You know, when he stood up, the excitement to see him and Saquon (Barkley) dap hands and the passion that goes to show that’s just him as a human being. It’s not fake. I appreciate having him as a head coach and what he does for us just not as players but to be better men, so I’m thankful for that.
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Were you able to talk to him that night?
I texted him ’cause I was sitting a few rows behind him, but I ran into him at the bottom and talked to him. You know, we were just talking trash to each other. That’s what we do. That’s how our relationship is. … A little friendly banter that we did. I was glad to see him smiling, his wife was there, and (see them) enjoy that moment together. That was awesome.
What was the trash talk?
We were just talking about his bald head. (Jackson laughing) That’s all.
How did you grow as a player this season under the new coaching staff?
My first year at (Tennessee), I had (Mike) Mularkey, Dick LeBeau, Deshea Townsend as my coaches. The next year, everybody gets fired, and I get a whole new staff. So at that time, I didn’t really know much about, you know, how people say, “When a new coach comes in, they bring a new mentality, or they bring in the players that they want,” which is true. But at the end of the day, you have to be open and accept everything that is there. Being young, not knowing what to expect from that, not knowing how to understand and manage that. And this year, having that experience again, I just feel like the Lord put me through that test again to see how I would respond. And I feel like understanding that and having these coaches letting us be ourselves and letting us play with swagger and instilling confidence in us … I feel like that helped not just me as a player but us as a team just do great things in the season.
What did you take away from that first experience and bring into this year knowing it was a similar experience with a coaching change?
I feel like the first time, not knowing what to expect, I still went in there and worked. But at that time, just trying to, I would say, just do the right things as in just try to do everything right and not be myself. This time come around, I don’t want to say not care, but really just knowing who I am as a player and as a person and I’m just gonna be me. And at the end of the day, if you do that, they’re gonna love it and respect it or they’re not. And I feel like they did, and that helped me a lot but helped us as a collective do great things.
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What are your biggest takeaways from your own season, on how you played and grew as a player and a person?
As a player, I feel like the season was all right ’cause I missed too many games. But I feel like just was doing my job. People always say, “Oh you did this, you did that.” I just try to tell them, “Man I’m just doing my job. That’s just in the description to do what I do.”
But as a person, battling through an injury before, just staying more positive and being prayed up. It’s always good when you go through something before, so it’s not the first time so you know how to deal with the adversity and attack it a different way. I think that helped a lot. The first time I got injured when I was at Tennessee, I’d never been injured before, so that was kind of crazy to me. I didn’t know how to deal, think, act, whatever it may be. Then, this time around, understanding that I’d been through it, to go out there and approach it how I always approach it but stay more positive and stay prayed up and keep my faith in the Lord, because at the end of the day, I knew the storm wasn’t going to last.
I read this quote from Kobe saying, you know, when times are down, what are you going to do during the storm to prepare yourself for when the storm is over? Cause it’s going to be over and you’re going to have to come out on top. And are you gonna be prepared and do things that you need to do to go out there and be effective, in a sense. And that came when we went to the Vikings and played. I feel like just being ready at all times, staying positive, prayed up and being in the moment.
“Always keep going. Always”
“The storm eventually ends” – Kobe pic.twitter.com/NY1E4VxXaX
— Kobe Highlights & Motivation (@kobehighlight) January 13, 2021
Was it tough that the injury happened on a punt return, which is not your primary position?
Literally when I knew I hurt myself, I knew I was gonna be down for a minute. Just one of the things. I felt it. I knew it. At that moment, I was kind of upset, but it wasn’t even upset at the situation that it was a punt return. It was just upset that it happened. But I feel like it could have happened any other way. My mom used to always say, “I wish I never did this, because this wouldn’t have happened,” and she started saying it probably would have happened another way anyways. So in that aspect, I started to think about all that at once. I was really mad, frustrated, tears and then in a split second, it was like, “All right, you know what? It’s not really going to last forever. You can’t really pout, woe is me and complain too much. What am I going to do to get out of (that)?” Obviously, it’s tough, it’s a struggle. Because you know, seven weeks go by, it’s like, “Jeez,” but then you figure it out, and that’s the great thing about being an athlete and the great thing about life in general: It teaches you a lot.
You said, kind of quoting your mom a bit, if it wasn’t that, it might have been something else. Does that change your perspective on punt returning in the future if that ever comes up?
(Jackson laughing a bit) Nah, it’s crazy ’cause I told them I would go back and do it again. It’s not one of those things, where you think, “Oh I’ll never do that again.” Something about, it’s just how athletes are wired. It’s really not a second thought. Like, obviously you try to be cautious, but when you be cautious, bad things happen. So going out there and just playing fast, full-fledged.
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If somebody said, “Would you do it all over again?” I would, because at the end of the day, what I love to do is play, and punt returning is one of my passions.
I know you restructured your contract last offseason, but have there been any extension talks or any kind of contract talks at this point?
Not to my knowledge. I’m not really thinking too far, too deeply into the future about that. I’m really just relishing the moment and enjoying it. When that time comes, especially now thinking about Tennessee when I got my fifth year picked up and then I get cut; you know what I mean? Nothing is really set in stone. The Lord has a strange way of doing certain things, and when one door closes, another one opens. And, you know, I’m thankful being here in New York. I love it here. I appreciate them and the organization and all the things that they’ve done for me and how they help us not just as athletes, but as people. So yeah, that’s my spiel on that.
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What are your offseason plans?
I’m gonna be out on the West Coast, you know, relaxing, enjoying life as much as I can and to be able to be present and be in the moment and appreciate the things that I do have. As an athlete, we’re so go, go, go nonstop, and sometimes we have to sit back and relax and enjoy it. Life goes fast. It’s crazy: I’m about to be on Year 7, and this is the most peace that I’m having, being able to relax, listen to my body and understand different things. So that’s what I’ll be doing.
You co-founded PorchPals. What is it, and how did it come about?
A package for my dad for Christmas was stolen, and another thing is my mom online shops like crazy on Amazon. And I know a lot of people do, especially since the pandemic, you don’t really need to go out, get things. PorchPals is just an insurance that secures your packages for items that really don’t need to be signed for, so it’s the lesser value items. You get 72 hours to make the claim and in 72 hours, you should have your money back. You can go on PorchPals.com to read more about it. We just launched in California and going nationwide soon.
(Top photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
