It was supposed to be an off-season for the Philadelphia Eagles to push forward after having such unexpected success. Get a cornerback. Get a safety (or two). Throw in a pass rusher. Those were the things that were supposed to be points of emphasis for Eagles GM Howie Roseman and head coach Chip Kelly.
Something that wasn’t supposed to be of emphasis was the possible moving of wide receiver DeSean Jackson. After compiling 82 catches for 1,332 yards and nine touchdowns with a 16.2 yards per catch average, would you worry about whether or not he’d be back?
Looks like we have to worry, guys.
Over the last ten days, the Eagles seem determined to move DeSean Jackson. First, the report was that the deal could be done for a second round pick. Then, a fourth round pick would make it work. Now, it seems that the organization is okay with just cutting Jackson.
Why? What has DeSean Jackson done that merits what we fans saw years ago with Terrell Owens and how that saga played out?
Roseman has done little to nothing to explain why. During a press conference yesterday, Roseman stated that Jackson is “under contract with the Philadelphia Eagles” and declined to answer any other questions related to the Pro Bowl wide receiver. Does Roseman honestly want to move his most talented receiver? Maybe. Maybe not. Does the new guy on the sidelines have something to do with this?
Head coach Chip Kelly hasn’t said much (if anything) about the situation. If you’re familiar enough with how new coaches work on any team in any league, you know they come in wanting to instill their own ideal set and their own culture. They want to make it known that what worked before will not happen under the new regime. Is that what’s going on? Is Kelly flexing his new coach muscle?
When the season ended, Jackson did hint that he deserved a new contract after putting up his career year, but he didn’t press the issue. He just received a five year/$48.5 million contract, so why rock the boat, now? Perhaps that didn’t set too well with Kelly — who seems to not want “diva tendencies” permeating throughout the locker room. It’s understandable he wants to silence that before it starts, but there has been little communication between Jackson and Kelly to resolve the issue.
Is that what’s at the heart of the issue … or could it be Jackson’s image? If you’re one of the over 400,000 of Jackson’s followers on Instagram, you’ve seen him “live the life” so to speak: the tattoos, the party life, etc. Jackson is a 27-year-old wide receiver in the National Football League. He’s allowed to live it up in the off-season — with his boys or at a Clippers game. One thing Jackson hasn’t been is a troublemaker off the field. He’s never been implicated in any off-the-field transgressions. That can’t be the reason for all this.
There’s his cap number: $10.5 million. Some say that number is a little high for a receiver that isn’t a “true No. 1”, but you have to put that in perspective. In a traditional NFL offense, yes, perhaps Jackson is not a number one receiver. In Chip Kelly’s high-octane offense, Jackson absolutely is a number one receiver. There’s a way to keep Jackson paid like a top wide-out without giving him Eric Decker money. He should never be paid like Calvin Johnson, but Percy Harvin makes more money. Keep in mind that Harvin has missed 22 games in the last two seasons.
His cap number combined with the (allegedly) deepest wide receiver draft class in recent memory makes Jackson an easy target to slice off the books. The Eagles are picking at 22 in this year’s draft, so maybe they get Kelvin Benjamin out of Florida State (because they’re not getting Mike Evans or Sammy Watkins). LSU’s Odell Beckham, Jr. is a name getting thrown out there as well. There is a lot of depth at the receiver position, but after Watkins (a bonafide blue chip), what are you really getting?
With Jackson, you know what you’re getting. You already know he fits. The team came out of nowhere to win the NFC East when very few people had the Eagles pegged for more than seven wins. If you’re really going to move DeSean, waiting until next year would’ve made more sense because the cap hit drops by about $4 million.
After ten days of “Jaccpocalypse” (the term being used by 97.5 The Fanatic), has the damage been done, already? Can this relationship be salvaged? Can the Eagles realistically bring Jackson to mini-camp, OTAs, and training camp and not have this saga continue?
When it comes to any kind of break up, it’s always best to just rip the band-aid off rather than carefully try to negotiate to reduce the amount of pain. DeSean’s latest Instagram about talking to Chip Kelly could be seen as a positive, but at this point, moving Jackson may just be inevitable.
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