The Minnesota Vikings have two rookies on their roster who played at Alabama for their NFL playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night – kicker Will Reichard and outside linebacker Dallas Turner.
There should be a third – cornerback Khyree Jackson.
Jackson died with two of his high school teammates in a traffic accident on July 6 – 15 days before he was to report for his first NFL training camp.
Jackson joined the Vikings in the fourth round of the NFL Draft on April 27 from Oregon after the cornerback had played the previous two seasons with the Crimson Tide. Jackson had signed his first pro contract and participated in Minnesota’s offseason program. He was on summer break when he died at age 24.
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores said the Minnesota defense had tried to keep Jackson with them throughout the season.
“When that all happened and I got a chance to speak to the group,” Flores said last week, “the message was: We’re going to honor him with the way we play, which was physical, because he was a physical player, and disciplined and fast. The one thing that I mentioned to those guys then was — and that definitely came to fruition — was he was a guy who liked to have a good time, liked to have fun playing the game – I think I used the word swaggy, which I don’t normally use, at that time – and I think we were able to do that, too.
“But that was a tough loss, definitely, early. That was one of those things that kind of brought the group together early. In a short period of time, he had a major impact on a lot of people. We talked about honoring him. The best way to do that was through a play style that reflected the play style we expected or were going to see from him. Hopefully, we’ve done that. And I think he’s watching us and he’s appreciative of the fact that we’re having a good time and playing that way.”
The Vikings have remembered Jackson in other ways as well.
As there has been for every game this season, a locker will be set up for Jackson for the playoff contest, stocked with the equipment and No. 31 jersey he would have worn.
The locker will have a Bible opened to Jeremiah 29:11, with James 1:12 bookmarked. The former was one of Jackson’s favorite passages of scripture, and the latter was cited by Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell when he spoke at the team’s celebration of Jackson’s life in August.
The Vikings will take the field against the Rams with decals on their helmet bearing Jackson’s initials.
The NFL team paid the uncollected portion of Jackson’s signing bonus of $827,148 to his estate and contributed $20,000 toward his funeral.
The Vikings have tried to stay close to Jackson’s family throughout what would have been the cornerback’s rookie season, too. Jackson’s younger brother, Kolston Jackson, served as the honorary captain for Minnesota’s first preseason game. The family attended the team’s rookie weekend in November with the families of the Vikings’ other first-year players.
Jackson had a winding journey to reach the Vikings.
After high school, Jackson went to Arizona Western. But he never played there. The homesick teenager returned to Maryland and got a job at Harris Teeter. But Jackson wasn’t through with football, and to reach the NFL, he played wide receiver at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas, then switched to defensive back at East Mississippi Community College. That led to 21 games and one start at Alabama before he transferred to Oregon, where he recorded three interceptions in his only season with the Ducks.
The Vikings and the Rams will square off at 7 p.m. CST Monday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. ABC and ESPN will televise the game. The teams are playing at the Arizona Cardinals’ home stadium instead of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, because of the wildfires in southern California.
The winner of Monday night’s game will play the Philadelphia Eagles at 2 p.m. Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on the Divisional Weekend of the NFC playoffs.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
