Jordan Battle hauls in beautiful toe-drag pick for first NFL interception

In the final game of his rookie season, Cincinnati Bengals safety Jordan Battle finally nabbed his first interception on the Browns’ opening drive.

Battle came on strong to end the year and took over one of the Bengals’ starting safety spots in the second half of the season, producing strong run defense numbers while trying to find his footing in pass coverage.

On Sunday, he made a breakthrough play, running underneath a high-arching and horribly thrown ball by the Cleveland quarterback to haul in the pick and get two feet down just before stepping out of bounds. Take a look:

Jordan Battle gets his first career INT 🙌
pic.twitter.com/D3YKo03kUs

— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) January 7, 2024

Background on Battle

Via On3’s BamaOnLine

Former Alabama defensive back Jordan Battle was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the third round (No. 95 overall) of the 2023 NFL Draft. After a successful career in Tuscaloosa, the 6-foot-1, 209-pound safety had the fortune of joining a Super Bowl contender.

With that pick, Alabama had seen seven of its players taken during the ’23 draft. He joined quarterback Bryce Young (No. 1), edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. (No. 3), running back Jahmyr Gibbs (No. 12), defensive back Brian Branch (No. 45), offensive lineman Tyler Steen (No. 65) and defensive lineman Byron Young (No. 70).

Battle played in 52 games over the course of his four-year career at Alabama. During that span, he was on the field for a whopping 3,091 defensive snaps, including 907 of a possible 942 (96.3%) in 2022. He totaled 252 career tackles to go along with 6.5 tackles for loss, six interceptions (three pick-sixes), 10 pass breakups and a sack.

The Bengals lost both of its starting safeties this offseason via free agency. Jessie Bates III was signed to a mega contract by the Atlanta Falcons while Von Bell went to the Carolina Panthers. That clears the path for Battle to earn a starting job early in his career. After a long career at Alabama, we can probably expect the same from him in the NFL.

Coming out of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) in 2019, Battle was rated as a four-star recruit. He also checked in as the No. 46 player nationally, No. 3 safety and No. 7 player from the state of Florida, according to the 2019 On3 Industry Rankings.