FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- One constant of Bill Belichick’s 24-year tenure as head coach of the New England Patriots is that the door is seldom, if ever, closed for players to return.
Which is why it comes as little surprise that they are reuniting with cornerback J.C. Jackson.
Jackson is set to become the 29th player to have at least two different stints on the Patriots’ active roster since 2000 after the team agreed to terms on a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers on Wednesday to bring Jackson back to where he started his career in 2018 as an undrafted free agent.
Some of the notable players who returned for a second stint on the active roster and had success after playing with another team include outside linebacker Tully Banta-Cain (49ers), running back LeGarrette Blount (Steelers), offensive tackle Trent Brown (Raiders) and safety Patrick Chung (Eagles).
Brown is currently on the team and has said the Patriots’ system suits him well and feels like home. Blount had echoed similar remarks after the Steelers released him in 2014, and he went on to lead New England in rushing in 2015 and 2016.
When CB J.C. Jackson returns to the Patriots and appears in a game, he will become the 29th player to have at least two separate stints with New England as an active game-day player since 2000.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 4, 2023
(h/t Aaron Salkin, Patriots media relations) pic.twitter.com/b1MaDhC26Z
The trade for Jackson seemed to boost players’ spirits, with veteran tight end Hunter Henry saying: “He’s a ball hawk, so I’m excited to have a guy like that back in the scheme. Excited to see him do that again.”
In his final season with New England (2021), Jackson was an All-Pro, finished second in the NFL with eight interceptions and allowed a 46.8 passer rating when targeted. But in seven games for the Chargers last season, Jackson allowed a career-worst 149.3 passer rating, and he is allowing a 72.0 passer rating this season, the second worst of his career.
It’s a low-risk, potentially high-reward move, based on the compensation. The Patriots are sending a 2025 sixth-round pick to the Chargers, who will send Jackson and a 2025 seventh-round pick to New England, a source told ESPN, and the Chargers are also picking up most of Jackson’s 2023 salary.
Essentially, the Chargers are giving Jackson away in an acknowledgement that the five-year, $82.5 million free agent contract they signed him to in 2022 was a mistake. His 2022 campaign ended in Week 7, when he suffered a ruptured patella tendon in his right knee, and he was a healthy inactive the past two weeks.
Meanwhile, how soon Jackson might help in New England, and whether he will help at all after recently acknowledging that he isn’t 100% healthy, remains to be seen.
But Sunday’s 38-3 loss to the Cowboys sparked Belichick and his personnel staff to be interested enough to find out the answers to those questions.
Everything seemed to change once promising first-round pick Christian Gonzalez -- the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month for September -- tore his right labrum late in the first quarter while making a tackle.
Gonzalez is out indefinitely, which left Myles Bryant and Shaun Wade as the Patriots’ lone remaining cornerbacks Sunday in part because of an unfortunate run of injuries at the position that also has the team currently playing without Jack Jones (hamstring), Jonathan Jones (ankle) and Marcus Jones (torn labrum).
Just as Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott didn’t wait to exploit the Patriots after Gonzalez’s injury -- throwing a 20-yard touchdown pass over Bryant on the next play -- Belichick couldn’t afford to wait to add reinforcements.
His 1-3 team faces a defining point in the season with the New Orleans Saints (2-2) coming to town Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS).