There were two theories about the reasons why the Eagles dumped ace wide receiver DeSean Jackson:
- He lost his allure faster than your hot, high-maintenance, diva former girlfriend, or
- Kelly’s 2014 offense would exploit Jackson’s talent much less than in 2013.
We don’t know yet which of these two thoughts are more valid, but Kelly himself points to Door No. 2 as captured by NY Post columnist Bart Hubbuch. Through the magic of the twitterverse, here’s was Hubbuch reported.
Chip Kelly on if he had a personality conflict with DeSean: “No. Not once. I have no idea where that came from.”
— Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) April 28, 2014
Chip Kelly must have said 15 times in a 5-minute interview that DeSean was released for “purely football reasons.” Got upset at questioning. — Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) April 28, 2014
Asked if he’s worried about losing DeSean to a division rival, Chip Kelly said: “No.” — Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) April 28, 2014
Chip Kelly on if he was surprised at no trade offers for DeSean: “No, because that was a very expensive contract.” — Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) April 28, 2014
Chip Kelly on the Eagles losing a 1,300-yard receiver: “We’ll be all right.” — Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) April 28, 2014
Chip Kelly on DeSean’s release: “We just wanted to go in a different direction. It had nothing to do with any article. Purely football.” — Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) April 28, 2014
Bear in mind that it’s NFL lying season. It’s in every coach’s interest to misdirect, not to fool fans as much as to hide strategy from rivals, or his bosses. (Jim Zorn was unusually candid and direct. Look where that got him.)
@SkinsHogHeaven Chip Kelly is just saying what he needs to say. or Hes a vindictive little moron.
— Apparent Douchebag (@therealkparsons) April 28, 2014
Kelly’s offense values Nick Foles more than Michael Vick. It is no surprise to Hog Heaven that the Chipper’s schemes might call for a smaller role for DJax than justified by his contract.
We drink the Kool-Aid on that, but we don’t swallow everything.
Jackson admits he had considerable growing up to do when he joined the league at age 20. We are not persuaded that he has done so. Getting cut by the team that drafted you right after a career year has a way of forcing your attention, though.
The Iggles made a different decision about Jackson than the Redskins have made about Santana Moss. ‘Tana is exactly the player you want on your roster, even if you carry him as his performance falls below his cap value. That Jackson hasn’t done enough to for the Eagles to do the same should force a lot of introspection by him before game one.
Even if Kelly is not quite honest, he gave us enough to be assured about Jackson. We don’t foresee the sideline problems with DJax that we saw in, oh say, Brandon Marshall’s, Dez Bryant’s, or Jackson’s early days.
If there were not enough football reasons to keep Jackson in Philly, there are plenty of good reasons to bring him here. Assuming both Jackson and Pierre Garçon are healthy and on the field at the same time:
- opposing defenses will not load the box with eight players to stop Alfred Morris and lay legal hits on Robert Griffin III at every opportunity.
- I double dare secondaries to double-team both Jackson and Garçon on the same play. PLEASE double DeSean and Pierre on the same play.
On paper, the play-action scheme should work better for Washington than it did in 2012. Despite everything, you read about zone read, the 2012 Redskins were primarily a play-action team.
Kelly’s comments tell us that Jackson will have his head in the game … for football reasons.
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