ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Kareem Jackson has an audience with the commissioner.
The Broncos’ veteran safety – one game into a four-game suspension for what the NFL says has said is repeated unnecessarily hard hits to the opponent’s head area – set up the meeting himself with commissioner Roger Goodell.
Jackson will fly from Denver to New York on Wednesday night and meet with Goodell at 10 a.m. Thursday at NFL headquarters in New York.
“I contacted him directly,’’ Jackson said. “Hopefully, I get some clarity, and I can explain that things that I’m doing aren’t out of the ordinary things and I shouldn’t be in this situation.’’
About 15 years ago, Broncos’ receiver Brandon Marshall and linebacker D.J. Williams met separately with Goodell in New York on personal conduct issues. The word coming out of those meetings is that once the friendly small talk was finished and it’s time to get down to business, Goodell was stern while stating the league’s position.
“We’ll see,’’ Jackson said in a phone interview Wednesday morning with 9NEWS. “I honestly don’t know, I have no clue what will come out of it. It’s about trying to figure out why I’m the only person in this situation or being punished to the extent I’m being punished.
“I see the same hits all around the league, and guys aren’t being flagged or fined and definitely not suspended, so I want to know what they think that I’m doing that they think is so egregious and these other guys aren’t seen in the same light,” Jackson said.
Jackson was asked whether his style of tackling – despite his relatively small, 5-foot-10, 183 pound frame, he uncoils his body to sometimes deliver punishing hits – makes his hits seem especially more vicious.
“I get what you’re saying, but they can’t tell me that because of how you uncoil or because you’re smaller the way it’s delivered that it’s seen in this light as opposed to another guy who may be bigger,’’ Jackson said. “It’s the same stuff. You can look at every game, and this same stuff is happening that are being slipped under a rug and going about the game.’’
Jackson has been disciplined for six unnecessary roughness violations this season resulting in four fines worth $89,670 and suspended twice for a total of six games without pay. In all, that’s $927,997 in lost wages. Now consider roughly 50% of his $2.515 million salary is deducted from taxes and benefits.
Even though some of his financial penalties have been reduced upon appeal, Jackson is closing in on playing this season for free.
“Hundred percent,’’ Jackson said. “That’s crazy the amount of money that’s been taken from me. It’s ridiculous.”
Jackson understands the punishment he receives has been more severe with each infraction. What he doesn’t understand is why his punishment keeps getting stacked up when he sees other players getting nominal fines if nothing at all.
“I watched the Minnesota and Bears game (Monday night) and (Bears quarterback) Justin Fields got hit by the same guy (safety Josh Metellus) in the same fashion,’’ Jackson said. “No flag, nothing. These can stack up on other guys as well and they’re just not calling it. But for some reason when I do it, they’re, 'We’ve got to suspend the guy.' It makes no sense to me. Makes no sense.”
Jackson then explained each of the hits he delivered that received discipline from the league office.
“Excluding my one against the Commanders (when Logan Thomas was knocked out of the game and the next week with a concussion), everything else were normal football plays,’’ Jackson said. “The Raiders, normal football play. Green Bay, that’s a regular football play. The Minnesota one, it’s a third and 1. That’s a gotta-have-it moment in the game for us. It’s a normal football play. I’m not maliciously attacking guys’ heads. I’m not doing anything outside of football.”
In his meeting with Goodell, Jackson wants to bring up the league’s policy where suspended players cannot be at the team’s facility.
“When they suspend you, they isolate you and cut you off from everybody,’’ Jackson said. “What if I don’t have a support system? They advocate mental health, and then you cut off a guy from his routine, and he has to find other ways to do everything.”
Jackson sure has the support of his defensive back teammates. Prior to the game this past Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, each member of the Broncos’ secondary warmed up pregame on the Empower Field while wearing “Free KJack” blue hoodies. It was P.J. Locke’s wife who made them. Locke has played well in the three games he replaced Jackson in the starting lineup.
“That’s my guy,’’ Jackson said of Locke and the “Free KJack” message. “That was amazing. Those guys have had my back through all this. Just a testament to those guys and how tight we are. I love those guys for that.”
In the meantime, Jackson has been working out in the area.
“Every day. Staying on top of it,’’ he said. “Obviously, I have to find places to go to do everything. I’ve got a couple places around here in the area I’ve been able to go, so I can still have a routine and do the things I need to do so I’ll be ready when I get back.”
So far, the Broncos are 3-0 in games Jackson has been prohibited from playing. And he hopes they’re 6-0 when he returns.
“A hundred percent,’’ he said. “Those guys are playing their ass off and hopefully we get these next three and we’ll be in great shape by the time I come back.”
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