What Is a Lucky Jackson?
Following the steam of a successful XFL season, coupled with an appearance in that league’s championship game, Lucky Jackson has a new gridiron home.
That’s the Minnesota Vikings, signing Jackson on Monday while waiving oft-injured pass rusher Kenny Willekes.
What Is a Lucky Jackson?
Jackson joins a plentiful group of Vikings wide receivers, with organized team activities underway in Eagan and mandatory minicamp just three weeks away.
A very recent alumnus of the XFL’s DC Defenders, Jackson will now vie for a roster spot with the 2023 Vikings. His climb is uphill, but stranger things have happened than Jackson landing a spot on the active roster or practice squad. He’s 25, 6’0,” and 185 pounds for the biography hounds.
Jackson was a marvelous performer in college, slicing and dicing opponents at Western Kentucky for 2,680 receiving yards and 14 total touchdowns in 47 games at the school. He’s from Kentucky, too, and spent time in the CFL before trying the XFL on for size.
In the XFL, well, 2023 was kind to Jackson. He tallied 573 receiving yards and 5 receiving touchdowns, which both ranked fifth-best in the upstart football league. The XFL championship occurred on May 13, with the Arlington Renegades toppling Jackson’s Defenders, and 10 days later, Jackson signed on the Vikings dotted line.
On the aforementioned uphill climb, the XFLer must find a segue amid this group for a roster spot:
- WR1: Justin Jefferson
- WR2: Jordan Addison
- WR3: K.J. Osborn
- WR4: Jalen Nailor
- WR5: Jalen Reagor
- WR6: Brandon Powell
- WR7: Blake Proehl
- WR8: Trishton Jackson
- WR9: Cephus Johnson
- WR10: Malik Knowles
- WR11: Thayer Thomas
- WR12: Lucky Jackson
The team will keep five or six wideouts heading into Week 1, and at first glance, Jackson would have to derail free-agent newcomer Brandon Powell or incumbent kick returner Jalen Reagor. The task is not impossible, but it is a longshot. Perhaps Jackson is a more realistic practice-squad commodity in 2023.
Jackson recently told the Lexington Herald-Leader about his football odyssey, “It was very difficult. It was a long year and a half, just not playing or not hearing anything like that. So honestly, I give all the credit to God just because there was times where I had to truly lean on my faith and really just believe it, even though I didn’t see it at the time. I just trusted the process, and I continued to put the work in, and here I am now reaping the benefits of that.”
Jackson was teammates with Los Angeles Rams TE Tyler Higbee at Western Kentucky.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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