Buffalo Bills fans were beginning to fall in love with the six-foot-six monster the team drafted in the third round to send off the edge, Landon Jackson. He was putting together a decent camp, and fans were ready to see their new rusher in action. However, in his first chance to put his talent on tape he did not quite live up to expectations.
SI’s Randy Gurzi has him as one of the game’s three losers.
“Landon Jackson has had a strong training camp, but didn’t do much in the preseason opene,” Gurzi writes. “He recorded no stats and the one time he stood out was when he got a penalty that nullified a Jordan Hancock interception. There’s no reason to panic, but this wasn’t the debut he hoped for.”
Some fans are taking it harder than others.
“Not to be dramatic or anything but Landon Jackson ruining a Jordan Hancock preseason moment has put him in my doghouse until at least 2027,” one user tweeted.
Despite the lack of production, one intangible really jumped out of the screen: the rookie’s eye popping size.
Landon Jackson’s Terrifying Injury
Taking into account that this was the first time Jackson has stepped on the football field in a competitive capacity since suffering a terrifying neck injury that ended his final college season early kind of changes the perception of his performance.
“He laid on the turf face-down for a long time after a short run by the Tigers. He eventually rolled over, but he had to be stretchered off the field. The training staff was tending to his upper body and the head-and-neck region,” reads a story posted at the time of the injury.
“All of his teammates left the sideline and came onto the field to offer their support as the delay lasted nearly 12 minutes. Jackson gave a thumbs up as he was stretchered into an ambulance.”
It was later reported that the defensive end, who was Arkansas’ best player last season, had been battling an ankle injury and a knee injury as well. However, after nearly eight months of rest and recovery, it appears the rook is at full strength and perhaps just needed a couple quarters to shake the rust off.
“Body feels great,” Jackson told the Pay the Bills Podcast back on July 19. “I’m ready to get going. I’m gonna be fully good to go for camp, so I’m really excited about it.”
Jackson’s Unbelievable Frame
Unbelievable is the only word you can use to describe the massive human that is Landon Jackson. This size certainly translated on Saturday afternoon as, even among the giant mass of NFL trench man, the rookie stood out like a sore thumb.
Local reporter tweeted out a field level video of the first year player standing among his teammates.
“If you were wondering how big #Bills rookie Landon Jackson, here he is in pads next to Greg Rousseau,” the tweet reads. “Easy to see the size that made the 3rd round pick out of Arkansas an intriguing prospect.”
Even Arkansas fans are surprised by the way the former Razorback looked at his NFL debut. The last time they saw Jackson, he was lying motionless in the middle of a snowy football field. Among seeing him in pads again, fans quickly noticed he had gained some muscle.
“The people of Buffalo, where Jackson has begun to make a new home after being drafted in the third round of the NFL draft this past spring, have not gotten much time to meet him. Instead, they are left to pretty much visuals only, which has left his new fans with a much more frightening perception,” Kent Smith writes for Arkansas SI. “For those who don’t know, Jackson looks like he was ripped right off the front of a WWE Wrestlemania promo poster.”
