Unnecessary roughness: Bills sign oft-suspended former Broncos DB Kareem Jackson

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but that will never stop NFL teams from trying. This time it’s the Buffalo Bills signing Kareem Jackson, who had a financially and reputationally destructive 2023.

The 36-year-old defensive back spent most of last season racking up fines and suspensions with the Denver Broncos before he was released and picked up by the Houston Texans. Now Buffalo gets a chance to rehabilitate the 14-year NFL veteran.

Was Kareem Jackson’s 2023 season an anomaly or a reflection of where he is now?

While playing for the Broncos last season, Jackson was fined $14,819 for a hit in Week 1 against the Las Vegas Raiders, ejected and fined $19,669 for a hit on Logan Thomas in Week 2 against the Washington Commanders, fined $11,473 for a hit in Week 3 against the Miami Dolphins, fined $43,709 for a hit in Week 6 against the Kansas City Chiefs, and then suspended for two games (originally it was four games) for a hit in Week 7 against the Green Bay Packers. That’s an impressive NFL rap sheet for an entire season. 

Except he wasn’t done. In his first game back after the suspension, he was suspended for four more games because of a helmet-to-helmet hit on Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Dobbs in Week 11 that was later deemed illegal. It was a dominant run of blatantly ignoring the rules and refusing to change how you play. 

The weird thing about this is that 2023 was kind of an anomaly for him. He’s entering his 15th season in the NFL and has been a clean player for most of his career. 

Vontaze Burfict is the gold standard when it comes to filthy players. He was suspended for 22 games because of 14 different plays and fined over $5 million in his eight-year career. Jackson was suspended for six games and fined over $700,000 in one season. 

There are a few factors that could have potentially led to this. He could be incredibly unlucky. He’s said that his fine of the 2023 season was because the receiver slipped and it changed the trajectory of the tackle. There’s probably some of that mixed in with everything, but the frequency of these fines seemed like more than just a lack of luck.

Jackson is 36 years old. For a defensive back, that’s geriatric. If you’re losing a step and you still want to be a presence on the field, you might have to bend the rules, just preferably in a way that doesn’t result in turning someone’s brain into hummus.

Another option, albeit (hopefully) less realistic, is the Sean Payton aspect. Payton is no stranger to being a head coach while players purposefully decimate their opponents.

Jackson played for two teams in 2023, the Broncos and Texans. It was only two regular season games with the Texans and he only had a total of 39 defensive snaps, but he didn’t have any issues there. If you compare that to the 480 snaps he played with the Broncos, it seems like Payton might not be the issue here.

As for Kareem Jackson, you can imagine that he was asked about all of the fines. On October 4, 2023, which was the Wednesday between Weeks 4 and 5, he went on the "Ross Tucker Podcast" and spoke about the NFL and their fines.

He might be right about that. Maybe the fines are getting out of hand, but he’s been in the league long enough to know what’s right and wrong. You could argue that if you don’t want those fines to keep stacking, then don’t keep doing fine-worthy things. You could also argue that big hits are sick and he should keep laying the lumber until his body gives out.