Vikings DC Brian Flores still gets a pit in his stomach when thinking about Khyree Jackson
As the Minnesota Vikings progress through training camp and into the regular season, in those idle moments between tasks and events when a random reminder of Khyree Jackson might pop up, thoughts for those who spent the most time with the rookie cornerback will quickly become heavy.
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores watched every snap that Jackson played last season with Oregon and met with him several times from the Senior Bowl to the NFL draft and on through the spring practices.
"I was really excited about coaching him and getting him here. I think he had a bright future," Flores said. "It's still something that gives me a pit in my stomach. It's still something that I'm dealing with internally — like this entire organization is, like I know his family and friends are — but I hope they can take a little comfort in knowing that he certainly impacted a lot of people in a very positive way."
Flores will join general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, head coach Kevin O'Connell and defensive backs coach Daronte Jones in a contingent from Minnesota that will attend Jackson's funeral in Maryland on Friday. The service for him and former high school teammate Isaiah Hazel will take place three weeks after the car crash that killed them and a third friend, A.J. Lytton.
"We're starting training camp and everyone's excited about that, but I think that situation puts a lot of things in perspective and definitely makes you realize there are a lot of things that are much bigger than football," Flores said on Thursday before the team's second practice of camp.
Jackson was taken with the 108th overall pick in the fourth round, boasting skills in press coverage and run stopping that were bound to fit well in Flores' aggressive and creative scheme.
After winning two state championships as a wide receiver with Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, Jackson's academic standing forced him down an alternative path. He initially attended Arizona Western Community College, but he came back to Maryland after a couple of weeks and was so embarrassed by his dropout he laid low at home "for about six months."
He got a job in the deli department at a Harris Teeter supermarket, slicing ham for a living and even winning an employee of the month award. He got so good at video games he seriously considered trying to make the NBA 2K esports league and was training for a tournament when he got a call from Fort Scott Community College about getting back into football. He played there in 2019 after two full seasons off, switched to cornerback and suddenly was back on a major college track.
After enrolling at East Mississippi Community College and navigating the pandemic shutdowns, Jackson landed at Alabama. His first start came in the national championship game after the 2021 season, and one year later he transferred to Oregon to finish his college career.
"I have my moments where I get down. When you think about all that he had been through to get to this point, that's a lot of what I loved about the player," Flores said, later adding: "He certainly had some things in his life that I thought were going to propel him to doing some great things."
While there's no parallel that exists between death and injury, the Vikings are hurting at cornerback after the torn ACL that Mekhi Blackmon suffered in practice on Wednesday.
"This is a player who's absolutely crushed. Obviously it's been unfortunate with the Khyree Jackson situation at that position and for our team," O'Connell said. "For a young player, he really established himself as a guy we were going to be counting on."
The Vikings placed Blackmon on season-ending injured reserve on Thursday and signed cornerback Jacobi Francis to start the process of trying to enhance their depth. Francis entered the league with Houston in 2022 as an undrafted free agent out of Memphis. He was released by the Texans last year.
Blackmon, a third-round pick in the 2023 draft out of USC, played his way into the nickel package last season that allowed Byron Murphy Jr. to move from the outside to the slot. The Vikings are planning to pair Murphy with another veteran in newcomer Shaq Griffin in the two primary cornerback spots, but they will need a lot more production from players such as Akayleb Evans and Andrew Booth Jr. to keep their pass coverage from slipping as it did last season.
"I thought we were going to see a different version of Mekhi, a better version of Mekhi," Flores said. "Quite honestly I think we'll see that moving forward, and that's what I told him yesterday. I think 10 years from now this will just be a bump in the road."