The Detroit Lions announced the signing of former Los Angeles Charger’s 2018 7th round pick, free agent RB Justin Jackson, and the retirement of WR Corey Sutton on Monday.
#Lions have signed free agent RB Justin Jackson and have placed WR Corey Sutton on the Reserve/Retired List
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) August 1, 2022
Jackson, 26, last played for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2021 logging 5.4 yards per carry on 68 attempts. Jackson could never quite find the snaps behind Austin Ekeler and Melvin Gordon and with the addition of Joshua Kelley in 2020 and Isaiah Spiller in 2022, Jackson’s role became even more limited. Although he is coming off of a career year in terms of games played, he has yet to play a full 16 or 17 games.
The Detroit Lions backfield. when healthy, is solid. The addition of Jackson allows for depth behind D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams in the ever important run game, the Lions will need in order to have a chance at competing in 2022. The Lions passing attack has the potential to be very good, but it isn’t good enough to be one dimensional, and still win games. Williams, Swift, Jackson, and Reynolds all will have a hand in this now deep running back room.
Although Justin Jackson wasn’t able to land in L.A., he was fairly productive in limited snaps with a career average of 5 YPC. It will be interesting to see where he fits by the end of camp, but Jackson is no slouch and should ultimately make the roster at the end of camp, barring any injuries or set backs, as he is very good backup running back when healthy, and at 26 has a ton of gas left to turn his career around in Detroit.
