diff --git a/avro/pom.xml b/avro/pom.xml
index 70f18357d..447386122 100644
--- a/avro/pom.xml
+++ b/avro/pom.xml
@@ -34,16 +34,21 @@ abstractions.
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
-    <!--  Hmmh. Need annotations for introspection... -->
+    <!-- Depend on Jackson core components -->
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
       <artifactId>jackson-annotations</artifactId>
     </dependency>
-    <!--  and databind for Avro Schema generation... -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jackson-core</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
       <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
     </dependency>
+
+    <!-- Also on Apache Avro codec for some encoding/decoding -->
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
       <artifactId>avro</artifactId>
diff --git a/cbor/pom.xml b/cbor/pom.xml
index 27ad9e16a..2e7f71a1f 100644
--- a/cbor/pom.xml
+++ b/cbor/pom.xml
@@ -38,9 +38,11 @@ encoded data using Jackson abstractions (streaming API, data binding, tree model
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
-    <!-- 23-Mar-2020, tatu: for 2.10 we have `CBORMapper` which needs databind, too;
-        added as full dependency in 2.11
-      -->
+    <!-- We depend on Jackson core components; annotations optionally/for tests -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jackson-core</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
       <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 84ab37c13..9a8b5907c 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -57,10 +57,7 @@
 
   <dependencies>
     <!-- all dataformats extend core so just include here -->
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
-      <artifactId>jackson-core</artifactId>
-    </dependency>
+    <!-- 01-Nov-2025, tatu: [dataformats-binary#628] No more-->
 
     <!-- 11-Jan-2025, joohyukkim: For JSTEP-10, migrate to JUnit5 -->
     <dependency>
diff --git a/protobuf/pom.xml b/protobuf/pom.xml
index dd9ebf82e..534244eb8 100644
--- a/protobuf/pom.xml
+++ b/protobuf/pom.xml
@@ -39,27 +39,28 @@ abstractions.
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
-    <!-- uses protostuff libs for parsing, generation -->
+    <!-- We depend on Jackson core components; annotations optionally/for tests -->
     <dependency>
-      <groupId>com.squareup</groupId>
-      <artifactId>protoparser</artifactId>
-      <version>4.0.3</version>
+      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jackson-core</artifactId>
     </dependency>
-
-    <!-- Hmmh. Need databind for schema generation, convenience ProtobufMapper.
-         And starting with 2.10(.4), there is only explicit mapper:
-      -->
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
       <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
     </dependency>
-
-    <!-- and for testing, JUnit is needed; as well as annotations -->
+    <!-- for testing we need annotations -->
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
       <artifactId>jackson-annotations</artifactId>
       <scope>provided</scope>
     </dependency>
+
+    <!-- uses protostuff libs for parsing, generation -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.squareup</groupId>
+      <artifactId>protoparser</artifactId>
+      <version>4.0.3</version>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
   <build>
diff --git a/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x b/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x
index 16598b7b5..50d9a000e 100644
--- a/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x
+++ b/release-notes/CREDITS-2.x
@@ -390,6 +390,8 @@ Manuel Sugawara (@sugmanue)
 Josh Curry (@seadbrane)
  * Reported, contributed fix for #571: Unable to deserialize a pojo with IonStruct
   (2.19.0)
+ * Reported #628: Uncommon parent pom dependency configuration in Jackson 2.20/3.0
+  (2.21.0)
 
 Rafael Winterhalter (@raphw)
  * Reported #589: AvroSchema: Does not include base class for records
diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
index fba2f8b30..cd3daa682 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ Active maintainers:
  (reported by Yohei K)
 #623: (ion) Upgrade `ion-java` dep to 1.11.11 (from 1.11.10)
  (requested by @Shaurya0108)
+#628: Uncommon parent pom dependency configuration in Jackson 2.20/3.0
+ (reported by Josh C)
 
 2.20.1 (30-Oct-2025)
 
diff --git a/smile/pom.xml b/smile/pom.xml
index 319dde61b..68dd58efc 100644
--- a/smile/pom.xml
+++ b/smile/pom.xml
@@ -34,10 +34,11 @@ tree model)
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
-
-    <!-- 08-Oct-2018, tatu: for 2.10 we have `SmileMapper` which needs databind;
-       but only added as full dependency in 2.11
-      -->
+    <!-- We depend on Jackson core components; annotations optionally/for tests -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jackson-core</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
       <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>