Jerry Jacobs, ex-Lions starting cornerback, announces retirement
Former Detroit Lions cornerback Jerry Jacobs, an undrafted success story, announced his retirement from football.
Cornerback Jerry Jacobs, a former undrafted success story for the Detroit Lions , announced his retirement from football on Tuesday via Instagram. Jacobs, 28, started 29 games for Detroit and made 40 total appearances over three seasons (2021-23) after going undrafted out of Arkansas in the 2021 NFL Draft and making the Lions’ 53-man roster out of his first NFL training camp. In a post that thanked coaches and teammates and concluded with a "farewell" to the "beautiful game," Jacobs wrote that his head has “been everywhere” as he contemplated retirement, but he's “deciding to hang the cleats up and start a new journey.
” Jacobs signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Feb. 2026. The season starts next week.
Added Jacobs, “I fought a good fight and finished my race after 22 years of playing the game. ” View this post on Instagram In Week 5 of his rookie season, Jacobs made his first of nine starts in the campaign. He suffered a torn ACL in Week 14 and began the next season on the reserve/PUP list, but reclaimed a starting role by Week 11.
He finished the 2022 season with eight pass breakups, one interception, 42 tackles and a sack. In a Week 9 game against the Green Bay Packers, Jacobs verbally sparred with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, telling the reigning MVP to “stop trying me. ” Jacobs had a pass breakup with three tackles.