Blazing-fast cornerback hopes to sign with Pittsburgh Steelers

   

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Donte Jackson is set to hit the free agent market in March after the team traded for him in March. However, in just one season with the team, Jackson had a great start to the year but tailed off sharply at the end. For now, Jackson will have to wait to figure out his future with the Steelers, but he hopes to return to the team.

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Talking on the Christian Kuntz podcast, Jackson said he had a great time in Pittsburgh during his lone season, and a return to the Steel City would excite him.

"I hope I’m back,” Jackson said. “Another free agency coming up. Just grateful to be in this spot, to be able to sign a third contract. Because man, guys don’t get to two. It’s a blessing just to be able to set myself up to sign three is awesome. Huge opportunity for me and my family. We hope we’re back. We love it, but business is business.”

Jackson missed two games with a nagging back injury at the end of the season, but his play dropped off significantly over the course of the season. He started out hot with the team, but a string of injuries sapped him of his physicality.

Jackson, who the Steelers traded for last offseason from the Carolina Panthers in the Diontae Johnson, struggled down the stretch as the team’s second cornerback. Pittsburgh could look to bring him back on a cheap deal that would not guarantee him much of anything other than a depth job.

Jackson had five interceptions this season, a career-high. However, the Steelers look likely to try to fill outside and slot cornerback with new faces, so if Jackson does come back, it would either be as a veteran placeholder or a depth piece