Report: NFL is reviewing Kareem Jackson’s hit on Josh Dobbs

Kareem Jackson escaped a flag Sunday night for a helmet-first hit on Minnesota QB Josh Dobbs. But he may not escape the league’s jurisdiction.

According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the league is reviewing Jackson’s first-quarter hit on Dobbs to determine any potential punishment.

The NFL is reviewing #Broncos safety Kareem Jackson’s hit on #Vikings QB Josh Dobbs on Sunday night for potential discipline.

Jackson just returned from a two-game suspension, so a violation could trigger another suspension.

No flag was thrown. pic.twitter.com/0uS3B0mCgG

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 20, 2023

Although the collision did not result in a penalty — and, in fact, led directly to a field goal after Baron Browning stripped Dobbs of the football just before Jackson’s hit — former NFL official Terry McAulay, currently NBC’s rules expert, took to the airwaves on the Sunday Night Football broadcast and declared that Jackson’s hit should have resulted in a penalty.

“This should have been a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness,” McAulay said.

Dobbs subsequently went to the pop-up blue medical tent on Minnesota’s sideline for further examination as part of the NFL’s concussion regulations, but was cleared and returned to the game on the Vikings’ second series.

Jackson has spent most of the season under league scrutiny. The NFL fined Jackson four times in the Broncos’ first seven games for hits prior to issuing him a four-game suspension — trimmed to two games on appeal — for his Oct. 22 collision with Green Bay tight end Luke Musgrave.

And as it turned out, the largest of those first four fines was for a hit that didn’t result in an in-game flag. That was a $43,709 fine for a fourth-quarter hit on Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco during the Broncos’ 19-8 defeat at Kansas City on Oct. 12.

Kareem Jackson accumulated nearly $90,000 in fines before the suspension.

The pattern of five punishment-worthy hits in seven games was part of what led NFL vice president Jon Runyan to dole out the suspension on Oct. 23.

When Jackson returned, he expressed frustration with the process, asserting that neither Runyan nor hearing officer Derrick Brooks provided clear feedback on how to avoid further punishment.

“Not at all. Still looking for clarity on the rules,” Jackson said Nov. 16. “A lot of gray area when it comes to the rules that’s been put in place, in my opinion. Nothing’s black and white.

“I’ve had several conversations with Runyan, Derrick Brooks, and still hang up the phone with no answers.”

Unfortunately for Kareem Jackson, he might get the answer he wants least if the NFL doles out another stern punishment Monday.