How Much Should J.C. Get Paid?

One of the things Patriots nation agrees on is that the Patriots need to re-sign J.C. Jackson. Unlike most of my fellow fanbase, I don't think J.C. Jackson is worth $18 million. I've said multiple times that J.C. was an elite number two or a lower end number one. Having Stephon Gilmore and the AFC East helped J.C. look good. And I don't think he was great in 2021 without Gilmore.

My ideal is Jones would get number 14 - 16 range salary with incentives. I don't think the Patriots would offer that because Jackson is going to want more. So what I would offer him is number 7 - 9 money with incentives and if he doesn't except tag him and hope for the best.

I don't think Jackson is going to want to sign the tag and I think a trade will be coming. In that case I would offer Gilmore a contract with number 10 to 16 money for one year and bringing back Butler on Jalen Mills money for a year.  I would then draft a corner to develop for a season in the draft.

Does Jackson deserve the money? He's defended 53 passes and come down with 25 interceptions. He's also made 158 tackles with a forced fumble. He allowed 2.7 catches a game worse than Xavier Howard and both Jackson and Howard allowed 1.6 yards of seperation. He was 3rd in pass breakups with 18. He was ranked 19 in catches allowed with 53.3% and his coverage rating was 14th. And his 13.7 yards per reception was bad. Ranking him 68th.

I think Howard has suffered from playing on Miami. And although Jackson's analytics put him around Howard, I think Howard was handicapped by his team. Thus, No I don't think Jackson is worth the money. Jackson should not be given top 10 money and should stay in the top 16 range but that's just me. We'll have to see what Jackson and the Patriots wanna do but until then, all we got is opinions.