William Jackson III Gets New Number, Now Needs To Get Something Else For WFT

ASHBURN, Va. -- DeAngelo Hall wore No. 23 for his tenure with the Washington Football Team. That was the last true No. 1 cornerback employed by the Washington Football Team.

Sorry, Kendall Fuller is good, but if we're talking about top-flight corners, Fuller's not that. Nor was Josh Norman. He was paid to be a top shelf, shut-down corner. He was anything but in Washington.

Now, William Jackson III is wearing No. 23 and tagged his announcement with #23Reasons to be #Great."

#NewNumberAlert🚨🚨🚨#23Reasons to be #Great pic.twitter.com/2o0sshF8Tq
— William Jackson III (@WilliamJackson3) March 20, 2021

On Friday, Jackson (who wore No. 22 in Cincy) met with reporters for the first time in Washington, and if he's going to be anything like Hall was ... he'll need to crank up the turnovers.

Jackson only had four interceptions in his last three years with the Bengals. Why?

"I was a guy that’s going to get the job done,'' he says. "When you’re covering guys up, you don’t get many picks.”

True. But ... Ultimately, while it's not the most important thing for a corner, it's part of how you're judged. And the perception you create not only among media and fans, but more importantly by your opponents? That last thing matters.

Usually, when you pick off the ball on a semi-regular basis, it limits how much an opponent will target you, which then makes it easier to shade and help Kendall Fuller on the other side.

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Jackson suggests he's succeeded with another way.

“I just tell them to watch the tape,'' he says. "I wasn’t getting thrown at a whole lot. I wasn’t the guy that was getting picked on. I’m assuming that’s a good thing I’ve only got three because I wasn’t a guy that was getting picked on.''

Maybe so. But this new No. 23 has to be way better than Norman was and better than Fuller is, in order for the WFT to continue their advancement as an organization and to become a dominant defense. And on a truly dominant D? Somebody gets interceptions.