After a tough loss in which he was benched, William Jackson III implied his back injury was the driving force behind the demotion. The Washington Commanders cornerback had already missed one game of the season weeks earlier because of the ailment, and following Sunday’s defeat, Jackson said he knew he “couldn’t go no more.” He was replaced near the end of the first quarter.
Presented with Jackson’s interpretation of events, his coach didn’t exactly have his back.
“Well, we pulled him,” coach Ron Rivera said, “and we will leave it at that.”
Rivera’s benching of Jackson is notable for a few reasons — namely that the coach sat the team’s highest-paid defender in an effort to shake up a defense routinely giving up big plays.