Panthers CB goes off about trade from Seattle Seahawks

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It’s fairly common to hear athletes refer to whatever sport they play as a business.

Seattle Seahawks star WR JSN says any limitation put on him ‘is not true’

That, of course, is true. Pro sports rack up billions in revenue each year. In many cases, the results in quarterly reports are just as important as the results on the field. And those things go hand in hand as well, as a better product generally leads to more fan interest, thus more ticket and merchandise sales.

Part of the “it’s a business” mindset athletes have with their sport serves as a reminder to not take a team’s decisions personally. Teams are looking to make the moves they feel will make them better. Sometimes that means even the most beloved of players can see their tenures end due to poor performance or a salary that exceeds their production. But oftentimes it’s the lesser-known players who find themselves on the end of business decisions that leave them looking for a new team or see them shipped off elsewhere.

Cornerback Mike Jackson found himself being a part of one of those business decisions when the Seahawks traded him to the Carolina Panthers last August, and it appears he may be still holding a bit of a grudge as his Panthers host the Seahawks in a pivotal NFC clash on Sunday.

“A bag of chips – a stale bag of chips at that,” is what Jackson told reporters on Tuesday the Seahawks traded him for.

Jackson seemed to be a casualty of a new coaching staff taking over in Seattle. After playing in all 34 games and making 21 starts over the 2022 and 2023 seasons under Pete Carroll, he was dealt to Carolina in August 2024 for rookie linebacker Michael Barrett, a seventh-round pick by Panthers that year.

Jackson said he saw signs that told him his time in Seattle was coming to an end before the trade happened.

“I knew they was going to get rid of me because one of the coaches brought me in his office. When I walk in the coach’s office, I’m not gonna lie, I be nosey,” Jackson explained. “So I be looking around and I see the depth chart and they have a rookie they just drafted like fifth – not even fifth-round – like seventh round in front of me. So at that moment I’m like, OK, they’re going to get rid of me.

“And when they made me take a pay cut, I kind of seen that line. So it was just like, wherever I go, I just know I’m gonna ball.”

It’s unclear which rookie cornerback Jackson was referring to, as Seattle selected Nehemiah Pritchett in the fifth round and D.J. James in the sixth round last year. However, since James was cut about a week after Jackson was traded, it was likely Pritchett.

But to Jackson’s credit, he was right about two things – the first being the Seahawks traded him for next to nothing.

Barrett was cut just a few days after the trade and signed back to Seattle’s practice squad, but he was released in September and bounced around various practice squads before signing with the UFL’s Birmingham Stallions in October of this year.

It’s worth noting that at the time the Seahawks were in need of linebacker depth and appeared set a corner with Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen and Tre Brown all returning. So it wasn’t a trade many batted an eye at when it went down, but it is certainly one the Panthers were on the better end of.

The other thing Jackson was right about is that he would ball, because Jackson has been among the NFL’s best cornerbacks this season. He leads the league with 17 passes defended and has three interceptions, including a pick-six. Pro Football Focus has him graded 12th among 111 cornerbacks, including fifth in coverage.

Jackson’s success in Carolina figures to be put to the test this weekend when he’s tasked with matching up against a receiving corps headlined by NFL leading receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.