DJ #48

D'Marco Jackson

Linebacker · App State

A record-setting tackler at Appalachian State, D'Marco Jackson broke out with the Bears in 2025 after a waiver claim gave him a fresh start.

D'Marco Jackson spent years as a special teams piece before a 2025 waiver claim by Chicago turned into the best stretch of his career. Injuries opened the door to a starting linebacker role, and he made the most of it with a breakout performance that included an NFC Defensive Player of the Week award.

★ First-team All-Sun Belt and multiple All-America honors at Appalachian State

★ NFC Defensive Player of the Week (Week 15, 2025)

★ Career-high 15 tackles in first NFL start (Week 12, 2025)

Path to the league

Jackson closed out his Appalachian State career with a historic senior season, recording 120 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, six sacks and five passes defended, the only FBS player in the 2000s to hit all of those marks in a single year, earning first-team All-Sun Belt and multiple All-America honors. New Orleans drafted him in the fifth round, 161st overall, in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Career highlights

Jackson spent his early NFL seasons largely as a special teams contributor with the Saints before Chicago claimed him off waivers in August 2025. His college tackle numbers, 296 career stops at App State, hinted at the productivity he would eventually show at the NFL level.

2025 season recap

Jackson became Chicago's starting middle linebacker in Week 12 due to injuries and delivered immediately, recording a career-high 15 tackles in his first career start. In Week 15 he added his first career sack and interception, coming off Cleveland's Shedeur Sanders, and was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week, the first Bears linebacker to earn that honor since Danny Trevathan in 2018.