The New England Patriots are turning to a familiar face to help mitigate their injury issues in the secondary.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Patriots are trading for Los Angeles Chargers cornerback J.C. Jackson, who played in New England from 2018-21 before signing with LA in free agency.
Rapoport says the two teams are exchanging late-round picks to complete the deal.
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Sources: The #Patriots are trading for #Chargers CB JC Jackson. A reunion! The compensation is a swap of late-round picks. Back where he started. pic.twitter.com/7h0A7iJcJS
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 4, 2023
Jackson won a Super Bowl with the Patriots as a rookie and made second-team All-Pro in 2021, his final year with the organization. That fall, Jackson started all 17 games, posting 58 tackles, eight interceptions and 23 passes defensed.
He went on to sign a five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Chargers during the 2022 offseason, but appeared in only five games his first season with the team due to injuries.
Jackson started the first two weeks of the 2023 season, but was a healthy scratch in Weeks 3 and 4. We’ll see if he can get his career back on track with the Patriots.
New England can use him, considering first-round rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez suffered what could be a season-ending shoulder injury in Sunday’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys.