GREEN BAY – The Packers have acquired fourth-year cornerback Isaac Yiadom from the New York Giants in exchange for former second-round pick Josh Jackson.
Yiadom (pronounced YEAH-dum) has 109 career tackles, 12 passes defensed and an interception in 45 regular-season games (19 starts).
Here are five things to know about the Packers' newest cornerback:
1. Yiadom has experience, starting 10 games for the Giants last year.
Acquired in a trade with Denver last September, Yiadom played in all 16 games for New York in 2020 with 10 starts. He tallied 47 tackles (28 solo), a half-sack, five passes defensed and one forced fumble. His half-sack, the first of his career, came when he and defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson sacked Washington's Alex Smith last November. In three NFL seasons split between Denver and New York, Yiadom has played 1,898 snaps (1,400 defense and 498 special teams). His lone NFL pick came in his rookie year against Philip Rivers.
2. He has the ideal size for the cornerback position.
Yiadom's 6-foot-1 stature and 32¼-inch arms stood out to NFL personnel executives in 2018. He ran a 4.52 time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. That was a tick faster than the 4.56 time he clocked at his Boston College pro day, when Yiadom also posted a 34½-inch vertical and 6.85 time in the three-cone drill. The Denver Broncos drafted Yiadom in the third round (No. 99 overall).
3. Yiadom played one season in Vic Fangio's defense.
Yiadom will have to learn his third defense in as many years, but there are some parallels between what Fangio runs in Denver and what new Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry intends to run in Green Bay. After breaking into the league under then-Denver head coach Vance Joseph in 2018, Yiadom started eight of the 16 games for Fangio and defensive coordinator Ed Donatell in 2019. While Barry hasn't coached directly with Fangio, he did work for a Fangio pupil, Brandon Staley, last year with the Los Angeles Rams. Staley, now the head coach of the Chargers, came up under Fangio as an outside linebackers coach in Chicago (2017-18) and Denver (2019).
4. He has special-teams experience.
Yiadom has been a special-teams player throughout his NFL career, though he didn't play it as often in New York (114 snaps in 2020) as he did in Denver (384 over his first two seasons).
5. Yiadom enjoyed a successful run at Boston College.
Yiadom started 28 of his 48 appearances at Boston College, where he was teammates with current Packers running back AJ Dillon and rookie sixth-round pick Isaiah McDuffie. Yiadom registered 110 tackles, 24 passes defensed and three interceptions over his four seasons. As a senior, Yiadom started all 13 games for the first time in his career and finished with a career-high 53 tackles (36 solo), two interceptions and seven passes defensed.
