Domani Jackson Was The Perfect Second CB For Green Bay To Take

Despite having just six selections, Brian Gutekunst pulled off a masterclass in this year’s draft. He addressed needs and acquired players who were his type at a good value. These players could contribute now and have upside, and he did so without straying from consensus. The cherry on top of the class was their first of two sixth-round picks, cornerback Domani Jackson out of Alabama, who was the perfect player for the Green Bay Packers to double up at cornerback with. 

Heading into the draft, Green Bay’s biggest needs were an outside corner and a nose tackle. The front office agreed, taking CB Brandon Cisse and DT Chris McClellan with their first two picks. Beyond those two, the biggest needs were depth at edge and offensive line, plus getting another WR under contract next year. They addressed those by taking edge Dani Dennis-Sutton, OL Jager Burton, and extending Jayden Reed on Friday morning before the second round. 

That left Green Bay with few obvious needs, or even roster spots up for grabs. However, unless the Packers were waiting until after the draft to bring in another vet at corner or re-sign Trevon Diggs, that was one spot where adding multiple bodies in the draft made sense. The players beyond the top four were a combination of Bo Melton and practice squad players.

Jackson is the perfect archetype of a player to double up at corner, for several reasons. First, he grew up in a military and football family. He was a highly regarded recruit from an athletic powerhouse, Mater Dei High School in Southern California, where he was a superstar track athlete and football player. 

He ran a 10.25 100-meter, tying the California state record, and ranked ninth on ESPN’s top 300 and 15th on 247 Sports as a recruit. However, at the beginning of his senior season, he suffered a patella injury that forced him to miss the rest of the season. Despite that, he remained an extremely highly regarded recruit and committed to play at USC.

Throughout his two years at USC, the story was mostly about his struggles with his knee recovery, because he never seemed to fully return to form. After 18 games over two seasons, he entered the transfer portal and remained a highly regarded player, ranking 43rd in 247 Sports transfer portal rankings. He committed to Alabama to play under Saban, who then unexpectedly retired. 

However, he stuck with Alabama and started for two seasons, but the story remained the same. His time at Bama was up and down. His best season came in 2024, and there was potential for him to be one of the top CBs taken, but 2025 was rough. It even included a quiet benching. Still, in the biggest moments in the playoffs, he started at outside corner.  

Along with potentially being a diminished athlete, many of the instincts at the position are lacking. That may be because he played in just 12 games over three years. COVID shortened his junior year of high school season to five games. Meanwhile, the knee injury marred his senior season and freshman year of college.

Early in his career, he won by being a better athlete than everyone else. Then, after hardly playing over a three-year span, he returned as a lesser athlete than before and hadn’t gotten reps to develop instincts and nuance at the position. That resulted in the disappointing player we saw throughout college.

To make him a useful defensive player, he’ll need great coaching to hone the nuances and make him more of a football player than an athlete. Lucky for Green Bay that their DBs coach, Bobby Babich, worked with guys like Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, and Tre'Davious White in Buffalo. 

Don’t expect Jackson to be the caliber of one of those players. Even though he may not be the All-World athlete he was before his knee injury, the former track star can still run with anyone. His speed, along with his bulky frame, length, and reliability as a tackler, is why this pick makes so much sense, because Jackson can potentially contribute as a special teamer immediately. Even if he isn’t contributing Day 1, given his combination of traits, his floor seems like that of a consistent special teams player with the potential to be a special teams ace. 

If Jackson just becomes a useful special teams player and fifth corner you can trust to tackle in the run game when he’s thrown out there, it’s already a great use of a sixth-round pick. However, there's much more upside than that, both on special teams and on defense, which is what makes this a terrific pick in the sixth round and a great way to top off a small but intriguing draft class for Brian Gutekunst and the Packers.