The 2023 season has been a nightmare for the New England Patriots, but for a point in time, the return of JC Jackson, who was brought back to Foxboro in a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers, was a bright spot for the team in the wake of Christian Gonzalez's season-ending shoulder injury. Yet sure enough, even Jackson has become a problem for the Patriots now.

Jackson found himself on the bench to start the Patriots Week 9 contest against the Washington Commanders, with nobody really knowing what the issue was. Jackson would end up taking the field later in the game and played 58 snaps on the day, but given his odd benching, it was immediately clear something was wrong. That has carried over to Week 10 now, as Jackson won't be joining his Patriots teammates on their trip to Germany for their next game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Why did the Patriots bench JC Jackson in the first place?

Bill Belichick, JC Jackson, Patriots

Jackson's absence now creates another problem the Patriots have to deal with in their depleted secondary, and making matters even worse, Jack Jones joined Jackson on the bench to start the game. With few details about Jackson's benching, everyone is wondering why he didn't start for New England against Washington. Reports emerged shortly after Jackson's Week 10 status update that indicated he was late to the team hotel on Saturday night before their game against the Commanders, which resulted in him starting the game on the bench.

Via Albert Breer:

“Patriots CB JC Jackson was late to the team hotel on Saturday, per sources, which was a part of why he started Sunday's game vs. the Commanders on the bench. Now, as Ian Rapoport said, Jackson won't be making the trip to Germany. Reliability issues have long plagued Jackson.”

Ever since he left the Patriots, pretty much everything that could go wrong for Jackson in his NFL career has gone wrong, and this is just the latest example of that. New England will dearly miss one of their top cornerbacks against the Colts, but for Jackson, he may be running himself out of town in the only place that wants him on the field right now.