Eddie Jackson

Eddie Jackson (born December 10, 1993) is an American football safety who is a free agent.

He has previously played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL).

He played college football at Alabama.

Jackson attended Boyd H. Anderson High School in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida.

He played defensive back and wide receiver for the football team.

As a senior, he had 37 receptions for 792 yards on offense and 66 tackles and five interceptions on defense.

Jackson committed to the University of Alabama to play college football under head coach Nick Saban.

Jackson started his career at Alabama as a cornerback.

As a true freshman in 2013, he played in seven games with four starts and had 19 tackles and one interception.

Jackson tore his ACL prior to this sophomore season in April 2014 but returned that year to play in 11 games with 10 starts.

He recorded 41 tackles, one sack and one interception.

Prior to his junior year in 2015, Jackson switched from cornerback to safety.

He played in all 15 games, recording 46 tackles and six interceptions.

He was named the Defensive MVP of the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship after recording three tackles and an interception against Clemson in a 45–40 victory.

Jackson broke his left leg against Texas A&M in the eighth week of the 2016 season, ending his year.

He finished his injury-shortened senior season with two punt returns and one interception returned for touchdowns, and was named second-team all-conference despite only playing eight games.

Coming out of Alabama, Jackson was projected by the majority of NFL draft experts and scouts to be a third round pick.

He received an invitation to the NFL Combine, but was unable to perform any physical drills during the entire pre-draft process due to the broken leg he suffered in October.

He was ranked the fifth best strong safety prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

The Chicago Bears selected Jackson in the fourth round with the 112th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.

Jackson was the 13th safety drafted in 2017.

On May 15, 2017, the Bears signed Jackson to a four-year, $3.06 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $665,797.

Throughout training camp, Jackson competed against Adrian Amos and Chris Prosinski to be the starting free safety.

Head coach John Fox named Jackson the starting free safety to begin the season.

He made his first career start and professional regular season debut in the Bears' season-opener against the Atlanta Falcons and recorded three solo tackles during the 23–17 loss.

On October 22, 2017, Jackson recorded four solo tackles, deflected a pass, made his first career interception, recovered a fumble, and scored two touchdowns during the Bears' 17–3 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

He recovered a fumble by quarterback Cam Newton, on the Panthers' first drive, and returned it for a 75-yard touchdown in the first quarter to mark the first score of his career.

During the second quarter, Jackson intercepted a pass attempt thrown by Newton, that was intended for wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, and returned it for a 76-yard touchdown.

He earned the NFC Defensive Player of the Week and became the first player in NFL history with multiple 75-plus-yard defensive touchdowns in the same game.

On December 10, 2017, Jackson celebrated his 24th birthday and recorded an interception, forced a fumble after stripping the ball from A. J. Green, and recovered it during the Bears' 33–7 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

In Week 17, he collected a season-high 11 combined tackles (five solo) in the Bears' 23–10 loss at the Minnesota Vikings.

He finished his rookie season in 2017 with 73 combined tackles (55 solo), six pass deflections, two interceptions, two touchdowns, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery in 16 games and 16 starts.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio returned under the new Bears’ head coach Matt Nagy.

Jackson and Adrian Amos subsequently retained their roles as the starting safeties in 2018.

In Week 2, Jackson recorded three solo tackles, one pass deflection, and made his first career sack during a 24–17 win against the Seattle Seahawks.

Jackson sacked Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson for a two-yard loss during the second quarter.

He recorded interceptions over the next two games off Arizona Cardinals' Sam Bradford (including a pick-six that was called back for an offside penalty) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Ryan Fitzpatrick.

On November 4, 2018, Jackson recorded six combined tackles and returned a fumble recovery for a 65-yard touchdown during a 41–9 victory at the Buffalo Bills in Week 9.

The following week, he collected a season-high six solo tackles and made two pass deflections during a 34–22 win against the Detroit Lions.

On November 18, 2018, Jackson deflected a pass and returned an interception for a 27-yard touchdown in the Bears’ 25–20 victory against the Vikings.