Vincent Jackson: Looking back at an under-appreciated career
By Hunter Noll
Wide receiver Vincent Jackson has officially retired from football. Although he’s not a Hall-of-Famer, his career was massively successful. Let’s look back.
In the 2005 draft, Vincent Jackson from the University of Northern Colorado was selected in the second round. With the 61st overall pick, the San Diego (now Los Angeles) Chargers drafted the wide receiver. Flash-forward 13 years later and his NFL career is officially over. That’s not without plenty of highlights though.
Vincent Jackson was a well-above-average wide receiver production-wise for the bulk of his career. There was one major problem though. This was during the Randy Moss years, and the Chad Johnson years. Terrell Owens overshadowed some of the early seasons for Jackson as well. Then of course, there was Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Believe me, I’m leaving out quite a few names as well.
Jackson was fantastic, but receivers in general were in a good place during his career. This led to the 6-5 target not always getting the recognition he deserved.
In his prime, Jackson was almost a guaranteed 1,000-yard receiver. In fact, at one point, he achieved the feat in six-of-seven seasons. The one season in that stretch that didn’t see 1,000 yards for Jackson saw him play in just five games.
Over his career, Jackson played for just two teams. In his first seven seasons, he was with the Chargers. Then he spent the last five with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Both teams got three of those six 1,000-yard seasons.
Jackson finished his career with 540 receptions in 155 games. He amassed 9,080 yards and 57 touchdowns as well. No, those numbers won’t get him into the Hall of Fame, but they’re hard to ignore.
After collecting 70 receptions and 1,002 yards in 2014, Jackson saw a heavy drop in 2015 (33 receptions) while only appearing in 10 games. Production dropped even more in 2016, when he appeared in just five games, reeling in 15 receptions.
This led to the receiver not playing in 2017, and he’s officially retired ahead of 2018.
It wasn’t just about the numbers for Jackson though. He was well respected around the league, and cared heavily about his Jackson in Action 83 Foundation. The goal was to give support to military families (Jackson being a military baby himself). I won’t get into it too much, as the website will do a much better job explaining it all than I could.
Jackson’s work in the community didn’t go unnoticed. His final season in the NFL (2016) was honored with his fourth consecutive nomination for Walter Payton Man of the Year.
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Vincent Jackson was never the best wide receiver in the NFL. A few names always kept him more out of the headlines than he should’ve been. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t top-tier though. His fantastic play on the field, and work off it can only be described as greatness. Here’s hoping his retirement is a good one — he deserves it.