J.C. Jackson had extra bone in his ankle removed via surgery

BOSTON -- The Chargers gave a rather large bag of money to former Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson over the offseason, but the new addition was unable to make his debut for his new team last week.

This week, Jackson is a game-time decision, as he recovers from offseason surgery. Now, an interesting detail has emerged on why the 26-year-old needed surgery in the first place.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Jackson was born with an extra bone in his ankle. While that additional bone obviously didn't slow him down much in his first four NFL seasons in New England, it was apparently "causing pain and inflammation," so Jackson had it removed in August.

After entering the league as an undrafted free agent in 2018, Jackson had never missed a game due to injury prior to last weekend. He played in 62 of a possible 65 games in New England, sitting out as a healthy scratch three times as a rookie. He also played in all five of the Patriots' playoff games during that time.

The Chargers gave Jackson a five-year, $82.5 million contract when free agency opened in March.The team managed just fine without Jackson in a Week 1 win over the Raiders, but L.A. would obviously love to have him back on Thursday night against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.