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TAMPA, Fla. — This was always the dream.
Friends since they were 4, teammates throughout childhood in suburban Atlanta, Kyle Hamilton and Nick Jackson grew up pushing each other to play football at the very highest level.
They’ve taken two wildly different paths to the NFL — Hamilton was a first-round draft pick, now entering his fourth NFL season as a safety with the Baltimore Ravens, already with two Pro Bowl nods to his credit. Jackson, also 24 and two months older, played six years of college football at Virginia and Iowa, and now finds himself on the cusp of making the cut as an undrafted rookie linebacker with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“It would mean the world,” Jackson said Tuesday of the thought of making the Bucs’ roster. “I love football. My faith, my family and football, I think that’s kind of what makes me me. It would be a big honor. My whole life, I’ve dreamed of this moment. When you play pee-wee football, you have those NFL teams and all that stuff. Every single day, I have that on my mind, but I’m just thankful for the opportunity.”
Buccaneers LB Nick Jackson (right) and Ravens standout Kyle Hamilton (left) have been friends since early childhood, growing up in Georgia. (Photo credit: Kyle Hamilton on Instagram). <!–>
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Undrafted rookies face long odds to stick in the NFL, but Jackson goes a step further. After the draft, when hundreds of college players are signed to NFL rosters, Jackson got no such call, only invited to attend the Buccaneers’ rookie minicamp as one of 34 tryout players. He had to fight just to get on their 90-man offseason roster, but was one of two tryout players signed, and he’s made the most of that chance after getting a foot in the door of the NFL.
“He’s very instinctive,” Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said. “He knows how to play the game, he knows where the ball is going, he does things the right way and he makes plays when he gets the
When Jackson played in his first NFL preseason game, in Tampa against the Tennessee Titans, it meant enough to Hamilton that he bought the NFL+ package, allowing him to stream the game and watch it live from Baltimore. Their two families are close enough that Hamilton’s mother was at the game with Jackson’s parents, watching in person and sending Hamilton videos from the stadium. The two players have talked through every part of his rookie summer, from minicamps to practice to his first games, reminding him that he was nervous in those same spots, even as a first-round pick.
“I think it’s a little different when you hear it from somebody you literally grew up with,” Hamilton told me. “We talk every single day. He was a little nervous going into it, understandably so. I was too, everybody is. It’s a tough time, physically and mentally. I just tried to help him out, nothing to make him play better, but just to settle his head and make him more comfortable. He’s done a great job and it’s been really cool to see him playing well.”
The everyday aspect of their friendship is nothing new. Hamilton said they spent every day together for 10 summers straight, going back to when Hamilton was a quarterback and Jackson was a running back, playing interleague football at Murphey Candler Park outside Atlanta.
“He probably won’t tell you this, but I was the reason he started playing tackle football,” Hamilton said. “Before me, he was playing flag. He has a scarce amount of interceptions in his life, but one of them was off me when we were like 6 years old.”
Just like he did when playing football in their youth, Hamilton also got a head start on playing in the NFL. He only needed to spend three seasons at Notre Dame before declaring for the 2022 NFL Draft. Jackson, meanwhile, played in 73 games and recorded 555 tackles in college.
As Jackson begins his NFL journey, Hamilton has been a helpful voice for him along his football path.
“He’s like my brother,” Jackson said. “He’s been an unbelievable influence, and I really can’t thank him enough. We’ve grown up since we were 4, pretty much talked every day, dinners every night. He’s guided me through the process because he’s been through it. We make the joke that he was first round and I was a rookie minicamp invite, so we have both ends of the spectrum on it. It’s been an honor to lean on him.”
Two decades after they first became friends, Nick Jackson (left) and Kyle Hamilton (right) are living out their NFL dreams. (Photo credit: Kyle Hamilton on Instagram) <!–>
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Jackson has other former teammates who continue to inspire him. He endured an unfathomable tragedy at Virginia in 2022 when a former Cavaliers walk-on opened fire on a charter bus on campus, killing three of Jackson’s Virginia teammates. The team’s final two games that season were canceled, and Jackson made the difficult decision to transfer to Iowa, where he would play his final two seasons.
“Everything you saw with Nick was significant growth, within the defense and within the team,” Iowa linebackers coach and assistant head coach Seth Wallace told me. “There’s a level of instinct there, and a level of studying your opponent, knowledge of the game, understanding protections, the ins and the outs that go into being in the right place at the right time.”
In the preseason opener, Jackson blitzed for a sack, then made a diving one-armed interception of a deflected pass, making him the only player in the league with both a sack and a turnover that weekend. He added a second sack in last week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, far exceeding nearly all expectations for him after the draft. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, who gave draftable grades to 25 linebackers, had Jackson ranked as the No. 53 linebacker in this class because he wasn’t fast enough or big enough by normal NFL standards.
Now, the player who wears a No. 53 jersey for the Bucs has put himself in position to earn a spot on their 53-man roster. If he can add one more strong showing in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills, he could join his close friend in fulfilling their NFL dreams.
They took two very different paths, but Hamilton said he can remember when Jackson was the first to get college scholarship offers and he was just trying to keep his grades up to earn an academic scholarship.
“It’s different paths for everybody, but you have to run your own race,” Hamilton said. “He’s had a different route, but he’s here now and proving himself. I’ve told him it doesn’t matter if you’re a first-rounder or undrafted, that once you’re in training camp, everybody is in the same position. You just have to go out and prove it.”
The two friends played against each other once in college, with Hamilton and Notre Dame beating Jackson and Virginia in 2019. If Jackson can make the cut and stick around with the Bucs, they play at Baltimore in 2026, so he’d have a chance to have things go full circle and face his friend on the field once more.
Jackson smartly says he can’t look that far ahead, as his focus is firmly on Saturday’s preseason finale and the good news that could follow as the Buccaneers finalize their roster. Make the cut, and his first NFL game would be back in his hometown of Atlanta as the Buccaneers travel to face the Falcons.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s unreal,” Jackson said. “I’m really just thankful, and going out there, I was just trying to play my heart out. You never know in football what play is your last play, so I’m trying to give it all for my teammates every single play.”
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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