ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Kareem Jackson was the oldest player on the Broncos’ roster last year at 33 years old.
A year later he’s younger. In a way. Thanks to the addition of 36-year-old backup quarterback Josh Johnson, Jackson is 34 but only the second-oldest player this year.
He was the second-oldest Broncos player to Demar Dotson in 2020 and third-oldest to Joe Flacco and Emmanuel Sanders in 2019.
“I love me some Kareem,’’ Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett said. “I love his intensity and competitiveness. That’s something that shows up every day. This is a guy, heck, he may be as old as me.’’
Hackett is 42, young by head coach standards. Jackson at 34 is old by football player standards. And proud of it.
Jackson was young once, too. The No. 20 overall pick in the 2010 draft out of Alabama, Jackson started eight seasons as a cornerback for the Houston Texans, mixed between corner and safety in his ninth season in Houston, and then as age took some of his cornerback quickness, switched to safety in 2019 for the Broncos. This is his 13th NFL season and he's been a starter for all of them.
“He plays hard every snap,’’ Hackett said. “He gets into it. He’s talking nonstop. He plays the game like it should be and I love that about him. I love chirping back and forth with him because it brings that energy and that excitement to practice. That's real football.”
So how much longer does Jackson want to keep playing this physical game of football?
“As long as my body allows me to,’’ said the Broncos’ hard-hitting, 183-pound safety. “I feel pretty good right now. With that comes a lot of me doing stuff on my own. Outside of the facility, even here. It takes a little while to kind of get going but I feel really good. So I’m going to go until my body tells me it’s time to hang ‘em up.”
Jackson is still like a kid on the football field with the way he razzes his own offense between plays in practice. He had plenty of help after the first play of practice Tuesday when a miscommunication with the receiver led to Russell Wilson throwing his first interception of OTAs (according to Hackett) to cornerback Pat Surtain II. The entire defense gathered around Surtain to whoop and holler and celebrate.
Ordinarily, Jackson’s trash-talking match on offense is usually the head coach, Hackett.
“I think it kind of gets everybody going,’’ Jackson said. “It gives us something to look forward to daily, rather than everybody just being quiet. Sometimes that stuff gets kind of old. For me, it’s all fun.’’
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