The Philadelphia Eagles made waves this offseason when they released DeSean Jackson. While the reasons appeared to be related to rumors of gang affiliations that were spreading like wildfire, the Eagles insisted it was for football reasons.
That seemed odd because Jackson had just had the best season of his career. Jackson caught 82 passes for 1,332 yards, both career highs. He also found the endzone nine times, tying a career-best. So realistically, how could losing that production not hinder an offense transitioning to quarterback Nick Foles full-time for the first time in his young career?
Head coach Chip Kelly explained that although Jackson put up monster stats, he wasn't actually opening up the offense for other players with his speed.
"I think most people played us in single high [safety] coverage and they played man across the board on anybody and no one was getting any help," Kelly told ESPN.
"Riley [Cooper] was getting man [coverage] on his side. DeSean was getting man on his side. Jason Avant was getting man in the slot. Zach Ertz, whoever our tight end was, was getting manned. Running back was getting manned. No one is going to play us in two [safeties] deep because if you play us in two deep, we can run the heck out of the ball. We had everybody as close to the line of scrimmage as possible and nobody was helping anybody. They were trying to stop the run game."
That makes sense; LeSean McCoy had a monster season as well with 314 carries, 1,607 yards and nine touchdowns. He also averaged over 100 yards per game on the ground, and chipped in with 539 receiving yards and two scores.
Only time will tell whether Kelly is right, but DeSean Jackson will have two opportunities a year for the forseeable future to stick it to his former team. In his place, the combination of Jeremy Maclin and rookie Jordan Matthews will try to replicate his big numbers.
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