Rookie cornerback Jerry Jacobs was an impact player on Sunday against the Vikings, further showing how nice a find he was for the Lions.
As the Minnesota Vikings attempted to put the winless Detroit Lions behind the eight-ball early last Sunday, they punted and settled for a field goal on their first two drives. Lions cornerback Jerry Jacobs made the tackle to end each drive, as Minnesota netted negative-two yards on those plays.
Jacobs finished the Week 13 game with a season-high seven total tackles, two tackles for loss and a quarterback hit. A Detroit pass defense that has been greatly improved lately allowed 340 yards to Kirk Cousins, but he needed 40 attempts to do it and 48 of those yards came on one completion to Justin Jefferson (among his 182 yards).
The Lions signed Jacobs as an undrafted free agent out of Arkansas this year. He has played in all 12 games this season, starting the last eight, with 34 total tackles, seven pass breakups and three tackles for loss.
Since all of these stats became officially tracked in 1999, @Lions CB @_luhjerry is the #NFL's 3rd undrafted rookie free agent to post at least 7 PDs, 3 TFLs & 1 FF in his debut season.
— Detroit Lions PR (@LionsPR) December 6, 2021
Per @PFF, Jacobs ranks 2nd among all rookie DBs with 5 tackles for loss or no gain this year. pic.twitter.com/w7S38NkI0j
Jerry Jacobs earns praise from Dan Campbell
During his Monday press conference via Zooom, Lions head coach Dan Campbell praised the aggressive tackling effort of Jacobs and fellow corner Amani Oruwariye. But he went a little further to praise Jacobs.
“If you can’t tackle, you can’t play on this defense and both of them did that and Jerry really showed up,” “He’s kind of a pitbull out there and he can cover 1-on-1, but he’ll also come up and tackle you and hit you, and so that’s good.”
The ongoing improvement of the Lions secondary is a credit to defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant. A season-ending Week 1 injury to Jeff Okudah and a subsequent Week 2 injury to Ifeatu Melifonwu that landed him on IR opened up an opportunity for someone. Jacobs has stepped up nicely, cementing his place in the team’s long-term plan in the process.