The New York Jets signed former Jacksonville Jaguars safety Andre Cisco to a one-year contract worth up to $10 million during the first week of free agency. Today we break Cisco down in detail.
The 24-year old Cisco is listed at 6’0” and 210 pounds. He was a third round draft pick out of Syracuse in 2021. After coming off the bench in his rookie season, Cisco has been a starter for the past three years. He has racked up 229 tackles and eight interceptions in his career so far.
Background
Cisco wasn’t a highly sought-after high school recruit initially, but he then moved from the New York area to enroll at the IMG academy, where he developed into a three-star recruit and earned a scholarship to Syracuse.
He was a sensation as a freshman as his seven interceptions were tied for the NCAA lead, earning him all-ACC and all-American honors. He also added 60 tackles and 18 pass breakups.
In 2019, he followed that up with a career-high 65 tackles and another five interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown, to earn all-ACC second team honors. That was despite missing three games due to injury.
His 2020 season ended prematurely after he was injured in a pre-game collision before the third game of the year and had to have season-ending surgery. However, he opted to enter the NFL draft at the end of the season even though he couldn’t participate fully in the pre-draft process.
This was expected to damage Cisco’s stock, but he was still picked early in the third round, with the 65th overall pick, by the Jaguars. He began his rookie season on the bench but started the last three games as he ended up with 26 tackles, two pass breakups and two forced fumbles.
From the start of 2022 onwards, Cisco was a full-time starter. He set career marks with 73 tackles and 10 passes defensed in 2022 and then had a career-high four interceptions in 2023.
2024 was a contract year for Cisco but he was benched late in the season, ending up with 68 tackles and seven pass breakups but only one interception. Cisco came off the bench in two games and was a healthy scratch in the season finale.
With his contact having expired at the end of the 2024 season, the Jets signed him to a one-year deal with a base value of $7.5 million and another $2.5 million in potential incentives.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Cisco brings to the table as a player, based on extensive research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
While only listed at 210 pounds, Cisco has bulked up since he first entered the league so is probably heavier than that. He has a nice wingspan and big hands, all of which help his range in center field.
While he wasn’t healthy enough to work out at the combine or his pro day, Cisco did manage 17 bench press reps, which is above average for his position.
On film, his range, quickness, change of direction and explosiveness are all apparent and he reportedly tested at between 4.3 and 4.4 for the 40-yard dash in 2020.
Usage
Cisco’s primary position has been as a deep safety although he has shown some ability to match up in the slot or come up into the box and contribute there. He will get a lot of reps as the deep centerfielder in single-high looks.
Coverage skills
Cisco’s critics may point to the fact that quarterbacks have routinely had a passer rating of over 100 when targeting him, but these numbers can be misleading with deep safeties, for whom many of those targets would have been from being the closest defender rather than in man coverage. Also, some of his interceptions and pass breakups have been on plays where he was not the defender in primary coverage.
When he does match up in a man to man situation, Cisco can allow separation due to poor route feel or anticipation, but he moves well and can stay with his man or recover well.
However, he’s at his best in center field where he can keep everything in front of him and exploit his range and closing speed.
Ball skills
Cisco’s on-ball production has been excellent, both in college and at the pro level, as he has been good at patrolling center field and reacting to, locating and going after downfield throws.
In tighter coverage situations, including in the red zone, he displays good timing and competitiveness at the catch-point.
When he does intercept passes, Cisco is a good return threat, with a pick six at both the NFL and college levels and some good return yardage numbers. However, he could have had more interceptions than he did, with his hands letting him down a few times on catchable balls.
Tackling
Cisco has been a productive and willing tackler during his career, but he has averaged around 10 missed tackles per season as a starter, so he’s not flawless.
He can be guilty of taking over-aggressive angles or running himself out of plays at times, leading to some of these issues.
Technically, he packs a punch but his footwork isn’t always faultless, forcing him to make arm tackles rather than being able to stop a runner in his tracks in the open field.
He had two forced fumbles in college and has had three in his NFL career so far.
Run defense
Cisco has played more and more reps in the box over the course of his career, becoming a more well-rounded player, and this has been reflected in increasing production as a run defender.
He looks comfortable in the box and attacks the line of scrimmage with good aggression to make plays.
Physicality
Cisco has a strong and powerful frame and is capable of unloading some big, but clean, hits in coverage and when tackling.
There are times, however, when he noticeably struggles to bring a bigger ball carrier down, allowing himself to be dragged for extra yardage.
He has had four defensive penalties in his career, of which two were unnecessary roughness calls on late hits and one was a pass interference call. He only had one defensive penalty in his entire college career.
Blitzing
Cisco hasn’t blitzed much at the NFL level and barely did it at all in college. However, he has registered pressure a few times, batted down one pass at the line and recorded 1.5 sacks.
He was called for roughing the passer once during his career.
Special teams
Cisco began his NFL career in a full-time special teams role, covering kicks and punts, rushing on the placekicking and punt return units and blocking on returns and in punt protection. His special teams role has reduced since he’s been a starter, though.
He has nine special teams tackles in his pro career so far, along with two penalties for holding on a kick return and being offside on a kickoff.
Instincts/Intelligence
Cisco is a player who is adept at sitting in center field and reacting to wayward passes or reading the quarterback’s eyes to jump routes.
However, he can be fooled by play fakes and misdirection and his over-aggressiveness can be exploited, leading to blown coverages.
On this play, he jumps the outside route, leaving the cornerback with no deep safety help. It should have been a touchdown but the Jaguars got lucky when the pass was underthrown. You can see the cornerback’s frustration being directed at Cisco at the end of the play.
This wasn’t a one-off incident, as Cisco was involved in a number of blown coverages last season, some of which led to big plays. This is cited as the main reason that he lost some reps down the stretch. However, blown coverages are always difficult to assess because there is often more than one person at fault and it’s not uncommon for them to arise more frequently on a struggling team where communication is perhaps not good.
Cisco’s other primary issue has been that he can get caught up in traffic when covering crossing routes.
In college, Cisco was a four-time member of the Syracuse Athletic Director’s honor roll and a two-time ACC honor roll member.
Attitude
Cisco is a player whose Jacksonville teammate Tyson Campbell described as “a born leader” and said he acted like a pro from the start despite being one of the youngest starters on the Jags’ defense.
He’s a dedicated player who is constantly looking to improve, apparently doing a deep dive at the end of each season to determine where he can make adjustments to his game to mitigate weaknesses.
There was one controversial moment last year when he made comments that there was “a lot of quit” from the defensive unit during the game they had just lost. Online speculation linked this to a particular play where linebacker Devin Lloyd was loafing rather than hustling back to assist him on a tackle, but head coach Doug Pederson downplayed this and said he didn’t consider it to constitute direct finger pointing.
Injuries
Cisco’s college career was cut short in a freak accident where a teammate collided with him during pre-game warmups, causing him to suffer a torn ACL. Prior to that, he just had missed three games due to a lower leg injury in the previous season.
He was obviously able to put these issues behind him as he became an NFL starter two years later and he’s only had minor injury issues at the NFL level, missing a total of five games, one of which was as a healthy scratch. He had a shoulder injury in 2022, hamstring and groin issues in 2023 and an ankle injury in 2024.
Scheme Fit
While we don’t know exactly what the Jets’ defense will look like yet, we can assume that the Jets are directly targeting players who they know have ideal size, athleticism and skill-set profiles to fit into what they want to do. Presumably Cisco will be a deep center fielder with them, perhaps enabling Tony Adams to play closer to the line of scrimmage more often than he has in the past two seasons.
Rumor has it that the Jets also tried to get Talanoa Hufanga before settling for Cisco on a less lucrative deal. He’s also been primarily a deep safety, albeit that he’s played a higher percentage of his snaps in the box. That may suggest that the Jets have more of a well-rounded role in mind for Cisco.
Conclusions
Cisco is an excellent athlete with a good skill-set and an ability to read the game along with some good leadership qualities, but he had a down year last year, so the Jets need him to bounce back and play with more consistency.
He only signed a one-year deal so there’s not much risk if it doesn’t work out, but there will be urgency to get him re-signed beyond this year if he does re-establish himself with the Jets.
Since he’s still only 24, the Jets can have legitimate hope that Cisco can build on the production he’s had so far at the NFL level and eradicate some of the negatives he’s been guilty of over the years.