Tennessee Titans' Jha'Quan Jackson goes off in joint practice with Seahawks

As a sixth-round pick of the 2024 NFL draft, Jha'Quan Jackson was already at a disadvantage to make the Tennessee Titans roster.

The former Tulane wide receiver was buried in the depth chart behind several players, including free-agent signings Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd. Along with returning players in DeAndre Hopkins, Kyle Philips, and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, among others, Jackson had his work cut out for him.

The 24-year-old seemed to understand how important every rep in training camp and preseason factored into the roster that the Titans would field on Week 1 of the regular season in Chicago.

Jackson put his best foot forward in Tennessee’s first preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers, electrifying Nissan Stadium with a 26-yard punt return near the end of the first quarter. The 5-foot-9, 185-pound wide receiver, who averaged 11.3 yards per punt return with one touchdown across five seasons at Tulane, gave the Titans’ first-team offense terrific field position.

Tennessee would go on to score their second touchdown of the game, underscoring the importance of Jackson’s abilities as a return man.

However, with other players of a similar skill set and a longer track record, he knew he had to prove that he was not a one-dimensional player at the NFL level.

Jackson used the momentum in last Saturday’s preseason game and turned that into his best training camp practice when the Titans held their first of two joint practices against the Seattle Seahawks on Wednesday.

The Luling, Louisiana, native hauled in a short pass from backup quarterback Mason Rudolph and converted the play for a would-be touchdown in 7-on-7 drills. Later, Jackson did it again, turning a short pass into a 70-yard touchdown, as Jim Wyatt of Titans Online reported.

“He's getting better every day, “I think that's all you can ask for him,” Titans head coach Brian Callahan said of Jackson, via AtoZ Sports . “He played well in the (preseason) game, had a nice punt return, had a really explosive play today: 70-yard touchdown or whatever it was. It was a real touchdown. That's good to see. I think he needs to keep stacking those days and keep making a case for himself. He's got ability. We drafted him because we liked his ability with the ball in his hand, and I think those things have shown up in practice.”

The scouting report on Jackson coming out of college was that he possessed serious speed to fly by defenders with a knack for making gadget plays with the ball to get out into the open field. However, most scouts believed that his smaller frame would limit him to the slot receiver position but one that could make a name for himself in the return game.

At best, Jackson would likely be limited to reps as a slot receiver behind Boyd to start the year, with the potential to carve out a bigger role as the season progressed.

As a receiver, Jackson recorded 1,743 yards on 109 receptions and 17 touchdowns with Tulane. From season to season, his numbers are, by no means, eye-popping. His best year came as a junior when he hauled in 33 receptions for 554 yards – 16.8 yards per catch – and three touchdowns.

That year, Jackson also fielded 21 punt returns for a combined 213 yards (or 10.1 yards per return), and took one back for a touchdown.

The Titans hope that the young receiver can take what he learned in the team’s rookie minicamp and expand off that in training camp and preseason.

“Each and every day I'm progressing in the offense to learn from inside, outside, just the whole offense and the concept and what the coaches want to see out of the whole team,” Jackson said via Wyatt . “Everybody is fighting for a position from all over. It doesn’t matter from the offense or the defense, but you just have to come with the mindset to just keep going.”

So far, so good for Jha’Quan Jackson.