The DeSean Chronicles
Posted: March 18th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 217 Comments »To borrow a line from “Anchorman”…that escalated quickly.
The DeSean Jackson story continues to grow. The rumors are all the place now.
League source has told me eagles are listening to offers for desean jackson.. patriots and niners have inquired. #Eaglestalk
— Derrick Gunn (@TheRealDGunnCSN) March 18, 2014
We still don’t know anything for a fact, but this story has grown from speculation to something more. Tim McManus wrote an excellent piece on Monday that summarized the situation to that point.
According to multiple sources familiar with the situation, Jackson is unsure about his standing on the team and troubled by what is being written about him. He has reached out to some of his teammates to express his concern. One of Jackson’s top confidants says that the whole situation has become “a bit of a distraction.”
Adding to the confusion/strain is the fact that the Eagles had yet to contact Jackson as of Saturday to offer assurance. This seems a little peculiar, particularly since Chip Kelly has been very careful about making sure his players know where they stand with him. For instance, he spoke with every key veteran on the roster during the draft last April immediately after picking someone at their position.
“I called everybody,” said Kelly. “I called Brent Celek when we took a tight end and James Casey. I called Mike [Vick] and we talked to Jason Peters and we talked to Todd Herremans. It’s just kind of the way we’ve done things. When we signed people in free agency I called our guys just to make sure they know where we were. I’m really big on open communication. I don’t want there to be gray areas. I think sometimes there are gray areas because there’s a lack of communication between people.”
Bingo.
Jackson is one of the top offensive players on this team, his name is being bandied about as trade bait, and the lines have been silent.
“We’re in the dark like everyone else,” said a source close to Jackson. “Thought he would at least be worthy of some kind of communication.”
Many of you would like this story to go away and prove to be much ado about nothing. That just doesn’t seem realistic at this point. The Eagles have had multiple chances to publicly address the story and kill it. Each time they danced around the subject. The response from some is that the Eagles don’t address rumors, but this is one they would kill in a flash if it was totally bogus. Add in the fact that DeSean hasn’t heard from Chip Kelly or anyone else about the rumors and I think you would be naive to think this is just noise.
Does this mean DeSean is definitely out? No, of course not. This is a fluid situation, to put it mildly. The Eagles are likely balancing trade ideas with the thought of keeping DeSean and then considering their options in a draft that is flush with WR talent.
I don’t have any inside scoops, but it seems like Chip Kelly might feel DeSean isn’t an idea fit for his kind of football. I’m not talking about X’s and O’s. I’m talking about having a total commitment to football and being part of the team. DeSean, like many star receivers, is a bit of a prima donna. Some coaches can deal with that, while others don’t deal with it so well.
Before you rip Kelly for being like that, understand that some coaches are control freaks that need to rule the roost a certain way. Jimmy Johnson needed his guys. Bill Walsh, too. Bill Belichick absolutely rules the roost in New England. Anyone who doesn’t do things his way isn’t going to last long.
If DeSean truly isn’t a Kelly guy, that isn’t some kind of moral judgment. Kelly needs players who will fully buy in to his ideas. Kelly made the situation work last year, but might see that is isn’t going to last for the long haul. If that is the case, this would be the time to make the move. The Eagles have Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper in place and can spend an early pick on a WR.
This move would be risky. DeSean is a known commodity. Cooper isn’t. Maclin is coming off injury. And a rookie would be a total mystery.
All I can say is that I trust Chip. If he does make this move, it is because he thinks it needs to be done. From the outside it makes little sense, but I trust that Chip isn’t going to get rid of a talented offensive weapon unless he feels it is truly the right thing to do. This wouldn’t be a knee-jerk move. Kelly spent the 2013 season trying to figure out who fit and who didn’t. This isn’t like Buddy Ryan instantly deciding that he didn’t like a player and getting rid of him. Kelly is a smart coach and if he’s going to make an extreme move, I expect that he’s got very good reasons for it.
We’ll see what happens.
_
To me it’s just crazy.
sorry, my error…
damned newfangled disquis…
It is completely crazy to me. Trading Desean, especially for a 3rd, is flat out unbelievable, especially after this season. As the FO lost all memories of what happened during the Freddie Mitchell, James Trash, etc. era?
I find it funny that you mention Jimmy Johnson and Bill Belichick as examples of why Chip would want to get rid of Desean, while to me they both had to deal with a troubled star WR (Irvin/Randy Moss), but did so because they were playmakers. They learned how to deal with a prima donna at WR because he was making plays, and giving them more chances to win a SB. This is an example of why Chip should learn to put up with Desean, not trade him!
And sorry, but it terms of being a distraction, unless many thing happened without reaching the media, Desean is faaaaaar away from a Randy Moss, TO, etc. Far away.
I would be very, very disappointed with this FO if this happens, unless we learn about groundbreaking stuff that happened in the locker room and would change my views on Desean.
Rumors say that 49ers and pats showing interest. Putting this nugget together with eagles looking for at least a three is concerning to say the least….those are almost fourth rounders. I think we need a team that meets three conditions–has cap room to absorb contract for nxt few years, is looking for peices for playoffs run, needs deep threat. Those are in most cases mutually exclusive as the good teams seem to be using most of their cap on a complete rostor. Only team I can think of is Carolina but not sure about cap. I could see Carolina’s second (low) moving desean and completely speculating–eagles packaging that second with their first to get Mike Evans.
If a team wants him, they’ll find the cap space. They could always make a restructure part of the deal, and minimize his cap hit this year. In fact, since his latest contract complaint is wanting some guaranteed money, they’d almost HAVE to sign a new contract to make sure he plays up to his potential.
As for the 3rd rounder stuff… I’m pretty sure that came from GangGreenNation suggesting that the Jets should try to get him for a 3rd because the Eagles are supposedly “desperate” to move on from him. That’s the first time I heard anything that stupid, and now it’s suddenly gospel. So I definitely think that is just the echo chamber at work. I can’t believe that they’re willing to just give him away… He might be a knucklehead, but he’s way to talented a knucklehead to trade for scraps.
I understand that you are trying to give logic to this tommy, but to me if this happens, if we move away from arguably our best playmaker that is just a huge management failure and I’m pretty sure it will have bad consequences on the whole team.
Tommy, does this seem like a deal that lingers until much closer to draft day? If we’re talking about a third round pick, are teams going to wait and see if their guy(s) is(are) there or not? Or does the fact that multiple teams are interested accelerate the process?
Its weird because Jackson just had his best year. Still, the only time he was effective in the playoff game was when the Saints’ corner went down.
Hey Tommy, any intetest in seeing the movie Draft Day starring Kevin Costner about a fictional(obviously) account of the inner workings of teams during the NFL draft coming out April 11th?
The trailer sucks, imho, but hey, a movie about the NFL draft could be interesting nonetheless.
That trailer is absolutely mind numbingly terrible. It’s terrible and full of cliche. I really hope the film is better.
That wasn’t on DeSean. That was on Foles for not throwing him the ball. He was open. Had a couple steps on dude most of the night. All-22 showed that. Part of the reason he was pissy that night. Part of the reason he’s been pissy a good chunk of the year. WR are Prima Donnas. Just the nature of the biz.
A 3rd doesn’t sit real well with me. The Percy Harvin trade last year seems like a comparable at least. While one might argue Harvin is more versatile than Desean, I don’t know how one guy is worth a 1 and a 3 and another guy is worth a 3 only.
Contract
As part of the trade, SEA gave Harvin a huge 5 year, $64M extension(more money than DeSean got). Harvin was in last year of his rookie deal so his cap hit last year wasn’t as big as Desean’s this year but they still gave him more money than DeSean is getting. Both have character/injury issues. Harvin is younger but DeSean is the better WR. They’re of roughly equal trade value. This year’s draft is stronger than last year’s so that may affect his value. That said, I still think this is largely media BS.
exactly – especially when Harvin was coming off an injury that kept him out of the entire season…it is all ridiculous and has no factual support
Seriously if the only reason is scheme fit, well I’m really disappointed in Chip when you ask your players to be flexible and versatile I thought that means you are also flexible and can adapt. If it’s a locker room distraction, yeah sure it’s better to get rid of the big mouth and keep the guy calling his peers with the N word.
Riley shouted a racial slur in the general direction of an authority figure. Unacceptable, sure, but if one of our WRs refers to his peers using the n-word, it is Jackson.
Ugh, no. Not equivalent.
Who said they were equivalent? I was just pointing out that Riley never called a peer a name.
I think you’re too quick to discount the possibility this is solely media generated. All of this arose because of speculative unsourced articles by the media. I think it’s somewhat disingenous of the media to use the fact that Kelly/the Eagles haven’t responded to the rumors that they generated as validation of said rumors. Kelly doesn’t seem to have any desire to play the media game. He never made any firm statement on Foles until December when it was clear a month or more prior to that that Vick wasn’t regaining his job. So, yes, now we might have DeSean being a little distressed and now the media has that to report but what caused that distress? Their own rumors! Now we have that other teams are calling. Of course when it’s put out in the media that a guy is available, teams will check in. The media in this case is a major part of the story instead of merely reporting a story. It’s bad journalism.
Taking it a step further, now that Desean is distressed and everyone knows it, it’s like blood in the water. We’re slowly being forced into a situation where we *have* to trade Desean, because he’s not going to want to stay, and we’re never going to get the same compensation as we would have if this hadn’t gotten out.
And as an EIC of a student paper, I agree, this is bad journalism.
Really? There is no such thing as the FO being forced into a situation where they have to trade Desean. If they weren’t open to the idea they could just deny it. If they denied all the speculation would be killed and they wouldn’t be “forced” into the situation.
I really think there is a strong possibility we see Desean traded on draft day for a pick in the first round that we use to draft his replacement.
Don’t blame the media for this. You are basically shooting the messenger.
I thought it was kinda settled 2 weeks ago when Howie said, “but certainly there was nothing there from anyone in this building that that report came from.”
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/03/06/howie-roseman-played-the-one-false-step-desean-jackson-game-at-home/
Are people just ignoring that statement, not seeing it or just not believing it?
If it doesn’t fit their preconceived narrative they ignore it.
Devil’s advocate: The source wasn’t in “this building” when they gave the reporter the info.
Anyone keen to demonstrate in the street in order to save Desean? That thing work well in France. If he doesn’t get support from the FO let show him that we do.
Bowen wrote a good article on the matter, he also offers a counter to the not-calling-DeSean point
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/eagles/Thoughts-on-free-agency-and-DeSean.html
This is all still speculation – Jimmy started a rumor and the philly media spun it back and forth amongst themselves long enough that they now believe it is true – I know the saying, where there is smoke there is fire – it just really is annoying that all these writers are sitting their lighting matches and acting like they have no idea how fires get started…DeSean will not get traded and the media will still run the story all year and it will cause more friction for DeSean. We are now left with a no win situation – and it was created by the writers, no one else. The people who write about this team need to understand that their opinions and speculations can have a negative affect on this team – and THAT WE WILL NOT FORGIVE. Would you be upset if someone outside our community was doing things that could hurt our team – OF COURSE YOU WOULD, this is no different. Drop this non-story already and stop causing friction on this team. Times are good – why you all gotta start something? I never thought Jimmy would get involved in something like this, but he planted the seed and now it is a snowball that is rolling and growing out of control – reporters need to take some responsibility…and you could help in this regard Tommy, you don’t have to feed into this nonsense.
The only verifiable fact I have read about this story is that DJax is now upset, and I believe that completely…the rest is all BS…
Too many guys who are generally tuned in to what is going on with the Eagles are saying it’s true.
what are they saying is true specifically? That the eagles have thought about trading one of their players? They consider trading all of their players, that is their job.
I expect this type of lazy and inflammatory reporting that can be detrimental to the team to be happening on WIP or coming from Howard Eskin – but why is everyone else willing to risk the team unity for something they have NO support for whatsoever right now? Very surprising and disappointing…
The media doesn’t care about team unity. They don’t care about reporting facts either. Anything controversial generates page hits which generates more advertising revenue.
I know – but not Tommy and Jimmy…the sad thing is that even they are helping this one along – hell, Jimmy started the story….
He wrote a type of story that’s perfectly fine and acceptable for a blog. It was speculative in nature, but that’s okay. The problem is that when you work for a mainstream media company, a report like this gets spread elsewhere and causes rumors that build on themselves. I don’t think he quite understands that there’s a difference between being a blogger and a reporter.
I don’t think that when one becomes a “reporter”, that magically a heap of responsibilities arrive at your doorstep, or some kind of scroll appears that you must sign, describing your role within the culture at large.
The original article by Jimmy was interesting speculation based on evidence at hand. It was, at the very least, better than the nonsensical speculation that writers like Marcus Hayes have been shoveling out for years.
What has happened since then is a bit odd, but probably nothing more than reporters accessing sources who indicate that Jackson is not universally well-liked in the locker room. That doesn’t mean trade, but it’s all the other reporters stepping over themselves to get a “scoop” that I have issue with.
In short, I was fine with Jimmy’s original article. It’s the kind of piece he’s done for a while: interesting speculation backed by interesting evidence. I’m not fine with this crap storm that’s happened since. But I will say that writers like Jimmy, Sheil, and Tim (as well as Domowitch) are writers I do respect, and who I don’t necessarily think would be just trolling for page hits. So who knows what’s going on.
“I don’t think that when one becomes a “reporter”, that magically a heap of responsibilities arrive at your doorstep, or some kind of scroll appears that you must sign, describing your role within the culture at large.”
Yes, their does actually. Journalists have ethical obligations that come with the territory, and people who take their craft seriously take those obligations seriously as well. The reality that we live in though, especially when it comes to online journalism, is that these obligations are generally put out to pasture because driving traffic is the most important thing.
While there are ethical considerations, I don’t think “make sure DeSean Jackson continues to have a healthy relationship with the Eagles front office” is among them.
They believe that this information is sourced, or at least some of them do (PFT, not so much). So many of them (the good ones) are doing their jobs. It’s not their fault that Jackson has such a fragile ego, or that the Eagles haven’t denied anything.
By your view of what journalists should and shouldn’t do, Woodward and Bernstein should have kept their mouths shut. Surely evidence and rumors of impeachable activities would be too disruptive to try to track down?
You’re assuming of course that the information that we have now was available when these stories were first being generated, which it wasn’t. The original article didn’t even have an unnamed source, not that that would be basis for publishing an article.
With Woodward and Bernstein you’re not making the distinction between following up on rumors with an actual investigation, which produced actual evidence, which was then used for the story. Every step of the way, they relied on interviews and documents to source their story, not a single, unnamed source.
I think Jimmy did a tremendous job of using available resources to hazard a guess as to what might happen, which would be awesome as a blog post.
To be fair, Jimmy is retained as a blogger at the Philly.com website, writing specifically for the “Red Zone” blog portion of the site.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/red_zone/
He was hired, as I understand it, to continue doing what he was doing, not take the place of the beat writers. His blog format allows him to go into the depth (and silliness) that he does.
If he’s writing under the blog section of the site, can he be criticized for doing what is only allowed on blogs?
I’d be more inclined to agree with that point of view if the other news outlets weren’t citing him as “Jimmy Kempski of Philly.com”.
The idea of a blog section on news site is a very grey area I think. Maybe Jimmy is secretly aghast that people haven’t been revealing that he’s a blogger, not a reporter, but I doubt it.
That’s really more an issue with the people sourcing Jimmy, and the paper. If I were him, I’d sleep pretty soundly knowing that every one of my blog-like posts contained “/blog/“ in the URL.
Jimmy probably made his bosses pretty happy with the amount of traffic generated by this story, so I’m sure his sleep is sound indeed. Regardless of whether Jimmy is technically considered a blogger or a reporter for Philly.com, the articles that piggy backed off of that were basically “blogger says Eagles might trade Desean Jackson, unnamed source within the Eagles organization say X”. If you’re going to tell me that ethically that’s an article that should be run, then I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree in this case.
Keith McMillian (who used to post here as d3keith) works for the Washington Post and has linked and cited Mark Saltveit several times to help his readers understand the zone read.
How is a blog section of a major news site any different than an OP/ED section?
Spot on. Jimmy’s initial article was an opinion piece, and clearly came across as one to me. A lot of the criticism I’ve been reading comes across as people importing their pre-conceived worldview and applying it to an arena where it is inappropriate. I shudder to think that anyone with half a brain could read Jimmy’s work and think that he’s making some sort of claim to objectivity. Some of his stuff is stupid, or in poor taste, but it’s clearly entertainment, and not news.
He openly admits its a speculative piece. He says the Eagles haven’t been shopping him and doing so would hurt his value. However he then lists some reasons why IF someone called and offered a bounty the Eagles wouldn’t hang up and laugh at them. Jimmy did nothing wrong and people who are angry at him have no reason to be. The most he did was say “there are some people in the organization who don’t think his personality is a great fit and the Eagles could possibly be open to trading him”. People who want to attack Jimmy are way off.
There’s
an opinion among some in the Eagles organization that Jackson’s
personality is not a great fit with the locker room culture that Chip Kelly is trying to cultivate, and the Eagles could be open to trading him
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/eagles/Eagles-signings-of-Jeremy-Maclin-and-Riley-Cooper-could-signal-a-DeSean-Jackson-trade.html#K3qU3ImEudxHSXsg.99
There’s
an opinion among some in the Eagles organization that Jackson’s
personality is not a great fit with the locker room culture that Chip Kelly is trying to cultivate, and the Eagles could be open to trading him
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/eagles/Eagles-signings-of-Jeremy-Maclin-and-Riley-Cooper-could-signal-a-DeSean-Jackson-trade.html#K3qU3ImEudxHSXsg.99
Man, I always wondered what happened to D3K. Loved his insight, but I guess he’s moved on to bigger and better things
Yea he got the call up to full time for the Post right before the 2012 season, and I believe he has a couple young ones as well.
Yes they did! Howie Roseman came out and said that these rumors did not come from anyone within the organization. Chip laughed at the idea and said DeSean is a priority at WR. And then sources confirmed that the Eagles calledDeSean and ensured him that they weren’t shopping him, but if teams called they’d listen to the offer.
Jimmy wrote a piece that I read as being openly speculative. He’s heard whispers for years about how some people in the organization don’t like DeSean. Which makes sense because he’s kind of a Dbag. Then he saw their moves at WR this yr and made a guess as to what that might mean for DeSeans future. The problem I have now is that he wont come out and just say it was speculation. He keeps trolling and saying vague things like “trust me it’s even discussed inside Novacare.” Again, of course it’s been discussed that means nothing.
To ask them to sit on their hands and not talk about this is pretty silly. This might be a fan blog but for guys like Tommy to plug his ears and go *LALALA* while all this happens would just not happen.
Oh, I have no problem with Tommy discussing this here. This is a blog, not a mainstream newspaper website. There are different standards involved.
Is there really? Ideally there should be, but if you’ve been reading much news and blogs lately, there really isn’t much difference.
Yeah, that’s not a good thing.
It isn’t silly at all. They can do whatever they want. I can choose not to read them. I have stopped reading the other blogs for a while because it’s bad for the Eagles. Tommy hasn’t said a lot until this story.
Sure you can. You can boycot all you’d like, but he’s asking him not to write about it. That’s a different story.
Agreed. It’s called feedback like anything such as a business. It’s up to Tommy what he decides to write.
no – not sit on your hands – help squash the BS – Tommy does that all the time actually – shares what some others are saying and questions it – shows the speculative and BS portions of what they are saying. But everyone is so desperate for a story in this dead period (longer than usual with the draft moved) that they are wanting to believe this more than get to the truth of the matter.
I can say that this story has been going on for some time. I know guys who hasnt said anything, but known about a potential Jackson trade for over a month.
Sorry to be so critical Tommy – but this one really hurts…the Philly media has spewed negative harmful energy on this team for years when it is unwarranted…and there used to be certain hacks that you watched out for to avoid that crap, but this time some of my favorite writers are involved…and you all do write things that can hurt the team…this is one of those times.
If he gets traded I will admit I was totally wrong, and that Jimmy did some AMAZING reporting. But I don’t think that will happen. And so now, much like in SF with the coach trade rumors, DeSean has been given a distraction and a reason to feel uncomfortable in the NovaCare building – it is a problem that will negatively effect my team that was created (even unintentionally) and grown by the media…smh
Jimmy does have a long history of starting scandalous rumors for media attention. He just can’t seem to stop himself from speculating with the intent of upsetting fans. I think a boycott is the only reasonable answer.
I disagree with you. I don’t think Jimmy planted the seed at all. I think he simply pointed out something that was already there. I think you are being irrational and not looking at the larger picture logically.
The sad part is that because this has spun into a story the Philly media is going to beat to death, even if we keep Desean the relationship will be strained.
There was literally no upside to people stoking the fire with this story. Our trade leverage may become compromised if Desean wants out, and if we keep him, he will likely be even more of a malcontent than before.
I’m sure that media people will say nonsense like they’re just doing their job, but stories that are based purely in speculation, or rely on “rumors” are unethical to the core.
I know people will point their finger and say everyone does it, but just because others are behaving in an unethical manner does not mean its totally cool that you do it.
I hope this all doesn’t end up burning us, because I like Jimmy, I’ve followed him since the early days of Blogging the Beast, but this could realistically have repercussions that hurt the team.
I think you misunderstand the role media plays in all this. Their job isn’t to drum up support for the team or get people behind them, it’s to generate sales and page views. The fact that we’re here talking about this and it’s on the forefront of everyones mind pretty much plays exactly into what they want.
That being said, as @ICDogg:disqus said below, there are far too many tuned in people reporting on this to brush it off as something based purely on speculation. When a guy like Adam Schefter chimes in on something like this, it has some amount of wheels.
That’s their motivation. Their job is to report news, not unsourced rumors.
This.
I think what we’re seeing here are sourced rumors, and they’re not revealing sources. Nor should they.
I still think it’s crap but man, there are a lot of respectable guys who don’t write for page hits chiming in on this one.
I will say that this is a fascinating discussion about modern media. A shame it’s coming at our expense.
Its not unsourced rumors. Do you think a guy like Jimmy would just pull thing out of his ass?
If you have sources, then say you have sources. Ideally, you’d have a source that is willing to give an on the record quote. If note then in the past at least before journalism went to crap the standard was that you needed multiple off the record sources that corroborated each other. The first few media articles on this were either unsourced or the reporter did not cite that they had a source. Again, bad journalism.
Their motivation is to generate traffic for their respective websites.
I think there are things that the Eagles know that we don’t – and the new regime has earned some trust.
The balance of DeSean’s contract is not guaranteed. DeSean thinks he’s earned a raise. We have no idea whether his agent has talked to the team about it, and if he has, what the tone is. We do know that DeSean mailed it in the last time he was upset about his contract. The Eagles might think a repeat is possible.
The Eagles talked about conducting research on guys in Peters’ situation before resigning him. I think we can be sure that they’ve researched when small receivers who rely on their speed tend to start to decline. If their research indicates that age 28 is the start of the downtrend, they’d have incentive to move him while he has value.
We have no idea how they plan to use their cap money. More trades or signings coming? We do know there are some key players who will need a new contract next year. The Eagles are the only ones who have actually done the math to see what their cap situation looks like. They may decide that they need to free up some cash.
People outside the team can look at the all-22, but only the coaches know what was called. It could be that they’re unhappy with what they see on film on the plays where he wasn’t targeted.
It could be that the team looked at the way they performed down the stretch – 6 and 1 after the Oakland game. DeSean averaged abut 3.5 catches for 52 yards in the 6 wins. He had 10 for 195 in the loss against Minnesota. Also, his first three years he averaged about 15 carries a season for 112 yards. Last year he had 3 carries for 2 yards. His first three years he averaged over 11 yards per punt return. His average last year was 5.1. If you take out his one long return (31 yards), his average was 2.6. He’s not the player he was and they essentially won without him. Maybe they think they can better spend the $10m elsewhere. We don’t know how they plan on allocating their resources.
They’ll eventually have to make the same decisions with Shady and everyone else. When to move the player, ideally just before his decline starts while he still can return some value. Same as they did with McNabb. The return sounded low at the time, but a year later he wasn’t worth half that. Based on what I saw last year, I’m willing to trust their judgement and see where it takes us.
From a coaching standpoint this regime has earned some trust. From a personnel standpoint.. eh. Like Noah Becker said on twitter, this is a FO that signed guys like Cary Williams, Patrick Chung and James Casey. I’m not about to give them blind faith and a pass on any/all personnel decisions they make.
Chung was a waste and Casey just didn’t get used, but I don’t see a reason to give the FO crap for signing Sconces. Aside from his offseason debacle, he was solid if unspectacular.
Didn’t we have to bring in multiple practice-squad tight ends just to make it through the previous season?
Casey signing made sense to me and we got lucky we didn’t have to use him too much yet.
And just to clarify, I agree with a lot of the points you have here. From a grand scheme perspective it probably isn’t a terrible idea to move him. But no matter how you slice it, even if we were somehow to get a 1st round pick for DeSean and draft a rookie receiver it’s not going to be a step forward for this team next season. Production/win wise, It’ll be a side step at best, and more likely a step backwards.
Good research,well written…and the obsevation of the non-production by Jackson is something most on here don`t pay attention to… I`m one of them.
thnx
I really don’t know what to feel on this. Notice that every media report is pretty swiftly countered by an opposing media report. Albert Breer, for example, had a series of tweets debunking the notion of the Niners and Patriots being interested. He also pointed out the limited cap space both of those teams had. While he is worth his contract, it’s still a fixed amount and it’s not low, so that has to be factored into potential trade partners (yes, teams can shift stuff around but they also have the draft for which they need to put money aside).
As to why, unless he’s killing whores in his basement, I can’t think of anything he could possibly be doing that’s so disruptive. His contract demands after this season, for example, was statements of his being WAY overblown. He’s not Troy Smith or Teddy Bruschi but he’s sure as shit not TO, either. I just don’t see what he could possibly be doing that would make the front office jeopardize the offense’s potential going into next year. With Jackson, they’re on the border of being SB contenders. Without him, who knows?
The saying goes, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire”. But sometimes, where there’s smoke, there’s just a bunch of people making smoke.
Whether you are inclined to give Chip & Howie the benefit of the doubt on this explored move or not, there is no question that it is inexplicable to time the floating of Djax after the prime free agency period has transpired and significant 2014 cap space has been allocated.
Potential suitors who could have absorbed Jackson’s salary no longer have the cap space to do so. You can’t tell me that Jackson has done anything new or significant over the past two weeks to warrant trading him. It just appears that Chip and Howie were mulling this idea along — and whether prodded by the media speculation and ensuing brush fire — they set this in motion two weeks too late.
Johnson, Walsh, and Belichick have all had players who they hate, but they got past that and made it work because they were too talented to squander. Chip would be doing the opposite of what those guys did, not the same thing.
That is why Kelly got the best out of Jackson right? He worked past it last year.
Right, I agree. So why did he suddenly decide he cant work past it anymore? It sure says a lot about Chip that he can keep Riley Cooper (btw a move I supported) who alienated half of his team, but can’t keep DeSean because he isn’t a team guy. Give me a break, Chip.
I completely believe that the Eagles are willing, and maybe even actively interested, in trading DeSean. I do not, however, believe that they’re willing to give him away for a 3rd because “Chip Kelly hates him”.
Essentially anyone is tradable if you get a big enough deal. That’s just being reasonable instead of emotional. That to me is the hallmark of Chip Kelly and his whole operation. Trading a guy coming off of a top 10 year for scraps because he’s annoying is being emotional instead of reasonable. That’s the exact opposite of everything that Chip Kelly stands for. I just can’t believe it.
As my Uncle attempted to warn me…as we were arguing thiis topic some weeks ago…they will trade DeSean b/c Kelly likes big WR – and to get one they are going to need a bargaining chip. DeSean is that chip.
How are all of you who are bashing the philly media going to feel when this deal goes down?
how are you going to feel when you will see that it was an idea the FO explore among other possibilities and you’ll realise you were once again fooled by the media?
I will not be happy if it goes down and the compensation is less than a second. I believe he is more valuable than that. However, I think that the smoke is real and the team is in fact looking into dealing him. Everyone here seems to believe that this is some media hoax and that the team would never trade Jackson. I disagree. I think the team is very interested in unloading him and I’d say it is at least 50/50 that he is gone. remember, big people beat up little people and djack is as little as they come. If he starts to slow down in a few years, he will be worthless as good physical corners will take him out of any game. In a few years, he will be irrelevant. If they can get decent value for him, I’d say take it. He’s a one trick pony and once that trick is played out, djack will be out
I don’t think you get the whole picture. The local media have been talking about 3rd round pick for Desean at best. Some of the teams discussed don’t have a lot of cap room.
I understand that they are talking about a third and I would be disappointed if it went down that way. I just think that it’s ridiculous that people on here believe that the idea of the team being open to trading him has been manufactured by the media. I think that the team is very open to getting rid of him. the fact that the rumored compensation is a third round pick should give everyone an idea of how the rest of the league may value jackson
What is the trade you are saying is going to happen? I haven’t heard any specific trade the Philly media is saying is going down.
Just a Jackson trade in general. I just found it astonishing that so many commenters feel like there is no weight to this story and that the media created this story. I’m about to watch this story on First Take. Even though not everything on ESPN should be taken as gospel, the fact that they are willing to talk about it on a nationwide scale should at least indicate that there is interest in moving on from Jackson and that it is not all a media creation with no merit
The NovaCare Complex will be on fire if the compensation is nothing near what the Vikings got for Harvin.
Chip Kelly has gotten a ton of praise since becoming head coach of the Eagles, and deservedly so, but if this trade goes down as is being reported, there is absolutely no way you can simply say “I trust CK” and absolve him of any criticism.
DeSean Jackson is a seasoned veteran in this league. He has been here for awhile and clearly Andy Reid managed whatever challenges DeSean creates well enough that they felt comfortable bringing DJax back on a long term contract. If the Eagles are truly willing to part ways with DJax for a 3rd round pick, CK is not handling things well enough with him.
The reason I say that is that there are two parts to trading DJax. Tommy only dealt with one of them. I can buy the premise that CK wants to control his offense carefully and DJax doesn’t fit in with that. In that case, while I strongly disagree with the plan, I can understand the logic of wanting to trade DeSean Jackson.
The second part of trading DJax is compensation. The rumor out right now is that we are willing to accept a 3rd round pick. Kempski has even mentioned that a 3rd round pick might be optimistic. While I understand some of the reasons that Jackson may not be worth what Harvin was worth in a trade (expensive contract, perception of being a prima donna, older, etc.) balancing the desire to part ways with DJax and willing to accept such little value in return does not sit well with me what-so-ever. It implies that CK is stubbornly unwilling to make things work with a very talented player and is willing to accept an extremely unfavorable trade in order to have the control he wants. If we are going to argue last year that Graham wasn’t a fit for the team in a 3-4, but if teams were only going to give us a mid round pick in compensation for him, we might as well keep him, then the same logic should be used for DJax.
Having said all that, if Jackson is creating extremely major problems on the team, these rumors at least make a tiny bit more sense. Complaining about your contract after being asked a direct question about your satisfaction with your contract isn’t enough to create this issue IMO, and I don’t think we have heard other issues created by DeSean beyond that, so the NFL must be doing a great job at covering up that story.
I don’t know if I have read a better take on the DJax situation than this.
I would be really upset with a 3rd rounder or even a 4th rounder. If the plan is: We don’t like him in our locker room (which could be fair, no one outside the locker room could know), I’ll draft a replacement. OK. But then get the compensation part right. In this draft, you could probably find a good replacement in the 1st, maybe the 2nd. DJax is a proven commodity, but it COULD make sense if you hit on the replacement (and we could trust Chip that he will find a WR he likes).
If we don’t pick OLB, Safety, ILB, D-Line… as early as we could and should because of this, it’s just not good for this football team.
Maybe it would make sense nonetheless, but you can’t absolve Kelly from critisism, if that’s the case.
My preferred theory, based on nothing but wishful thinking, is that the Eagles are deliberately letting these rumors float around in order to light a fire under Desean’s butt, and have no actual intent to trade him.
Seems risky, Desean seems like the type who would sulk and pout rather than be motivated. But who knows, maybe that’s the plan and maybe it will work.
This. At least, we’ll know what to blame when he doesn’t produce if he’s still here when the next season starts.
And if it does work, Chip will be asked if that was the strategy all along, and he will predictably say, “I’m not smart enough to think of that.”
That would be a classic Chippah, for sure.
He just had a record setting season. His best thus far. He needs a fire lit foooorrrrr????
He bought in…
He just didn’t put his moolah in some sort of financial institution. He gave full effort. Oh that’s right he didn’t chase down another player who intercepted a ball that he was basically running backwards to catch and was washed out of the play. He has improved his downfield blocking.He even went over the middle a few times.
TLaw wrote,
“This seems a little peculiar particularly since Chip Kelly has been very careful about making sure his players know where they stand with him.”
So why would Chip leave one of the best players on the team supposedly in dark? Well, what if CK really has not left DeSean in the dark. What purpose and in what way would it benefit the Eagles to treat DeSean in this fashion and ask for such low return. Once one publically shops a player they immediately lose any bargaining power. So what is really happening you ask.
To me it seems like a ploy. DeSean is safe and instead faking dissatisfaction so other teams begin to show their cards. Remember the Eagles FO is one of the most private groups in the league as well as one of the most methodical. If they can get a read on even one team they win. Draft day is full of information, and the team with the most information generally prospers. Consider the Eagles two steps ahead on this one.
If that’s what’s going on, then the Eagles organization is truly on some next level espionage s—. That’s literally like the kind of “Wrongly turn against your most loyal soldier, so that the opposition will come scoop him up hoping to get inside information, but he’s really a double agent for you” type of plot you’d see in a spy movie or political thriller. I would be shocked and amazed if this were what’s really going on.
As far as the rumors go, they don’t bother me. And as long as the haul is decent, I have no particular emotional attachment to DeSean. Quite frankly I wanted them to sign Vincent Jackson instead the year they gave him the big contract (very close numbers on their deals). DeSean’s been a bit of a knucklehead his entire career, and a pouty baby on more than one occasion. I admit that he’s been mostly better since he got paid (both in performance and lack of poutiness), but I still don’t love the guy. As long as they can replace his production, I won’t miss him at all.
See Brody, Nicholas. Homeland season 3.
Actually, Tommy quoted Tim’s writing there.
And I don’t know, that sounds a little too black helicopters for me.
I think you are over thinking things…this looks more like something they wanted to do quietly, but someone caught wind of it and now it is out there.
Theres a difference between drafting someone and rumors. The first is the team reassuring guys after they make a move related to the position, whereas the DJax stuff is still just public rumors. They haven’t done any action that needs explaining.
Desean Jackson is a franchise, Philadelphia player. To move him would be like what happened with Steve Smith, but worse because Desean is in his prime.
A lot of people will be pissed as hell, including myself. And if the WR corps doesn’t play as well without him Philly will want Kelly’s head come 2015.
especially coming off his best season. you know the one where he put everything together like we’ve wanted him to for the past 5 years. no ones untradeable but i think people are underselling how important djax is to the wr corps and this offense.
and holy shit he’d be scary on that niners team
especially considering cooper sucks, maclin is hurt, and a rookie is a rookie. We potentially have almost nothing behind desean.
I’m not in favor of trading DeSean, but comparing his situation to Steve Smith’s is a joke.
Smith was and to an extent still is a complete player, is the best player in the history of that franchise, is a guy who for all his fire has never been accused of not caring about team success, and was let go for no compensation over a small amount of cap savings.
DeSean is not a complete player, isn’t even the best Eagles receiver of the past 10 years, is a prima donna, and would fetch compensation in a trade. And if he is let go, it would be for football rather than financial reasons.
Completely different situations.
I thought in a q&a thing Jimmy said it was more than just a hunch but he would leave it at that. If we want to blame anyone for this hurting his trade value or creating an awkward situation, blame the front office for playing coy with the media and not shutting the speculation down immediately. Looks to me like Jimmy had a legit scoop and had the balls to jump on it first. We may not like journalists relaying info they obtain from “unnamed sources”, but they walk a fine line getting inside sources and establishing their credibility.
I am not Jackson’s biggest fan but I will be disappointed if we dump him for a 3. Unless he was a serious pain in the ass, I don’t see how this helps the team.
If Jimmy had written about us trading Bryce for Jimmy Graham straight up, no one would have given him the credit for creating the trade by talking about it when it became public. Don’t shoot the messenger just because you don’t like the message.
Another thing to keep in mind is the wear-and-tear factor. DeSean gets by almost entirely on his speed. He’s not a great route runner, he doesn’t have exceptional hands, he’s not particularly good at adjusting his routes to the coverage or setting up defenders with fakes, he’s neither big nor physical. Guys who depend entirely on otherworldly athleticism tend to fall off a cliff decline quickly rather than slowly – just look at Allen Iverson. Or if you want to keep it to same-sport comparisons, any of a long list of undersized speed receivers who went off a cliff as they neared 30 – Santana Moss, Laveranues Coles, Az Hakim, etc. I’m not saying I think they should trade him, but if you want to do it and get something of value back, now is probably the time.
If you want to bring up losing a step then does Randy Moss, TO, Joey Galloway and Marvin Harrison ring a bell? Albeit, they were more complete receivers than Djax but still..
Jackson is a very good route runner and he has more than good enough hands. A WR like Jackson would never get open alone on speed, he needs to set up his routes.
Going to disagree with you there. His hands aren’t bad but he’s no Torry Holt either. He rarely makes really difficult catches and drops the occasional easy ones. As for his route-running, he’s quite sloppy with it. He runs mostly simple routes (go patterns, deep crosses, etc.) and he does rely on his speed to get open.
Don’t get me wrong, I like DeSean, think he’s a bona fide #1 receiver, and I want to keep him. I’m just saying, he’s not Larry Fitzgerald or Calvin Johnson, and there is some logic to selling high if they’ve decided he’s near the end of the line physically. Also, we’re not privy to everything that goes on inside the locker room and it’s possible he’s become more of a distraction than we know. Chip Kelly is clearly not a stupid man and if he is thinking about trading DeSean I’m sure he’s thought it through.
There isn’t much to be said that hasn’t been said already.
So I’ll leave a thought…
Think about Josh Freeman and Schiano. Freeman and Schiano didn’t get along, and there was some dysfunction with the roles that was supposed to happen. Maybe Freeman didn’t do all the things he needed to do. Maybe he had distractions. The thing still is–the buck still stops with Schiano. It was Schiano’s job to make Freeman productive, and he did not. Freeman has been productive before, so there was no reason to believe that Freeman couldn’t be productive with Schiano. There was no physical/scheme mismatch either. As it blew up, yes, Freeman got pushed out. However, Schiano was still damned for his lack of people skills.
It’s not really quite on the part of Desean Jackson’s role to fit his every mote within Kelly’s system. If it is, then Kelly’s being a fascist, and eventually he will lose the locker room like all of those kind of coaches do. It *is* part of Kelly’s job to keep his best players happy. Do you think opera singers aren’t a huge hassle to deal with? Or surgeons? Do you seriously think music house management or hospital management try to be all bossy with the talent? Or do they keep them *happy* as such souls can manage? It ain’t like college, bro. No pro team does well when they can’t handle their best players.
Except that football is a team sport, and having the whole team ‘buy in’ and perform their role is a critical part of success in those sports. The best teams have their best players leading by example, and investing a lot of money into players who don’t lead by example can wreck a team.
No idea whether DJax is failing in this. However, I don’t like you divesting Jackson of any responsibility and saying that he isn’t supposed “to fit his every mote within Kelly’s system.” He is paid $12 million a year to do that. Hopefully he is.
I agree that Kelly’s job is to design his system, and to engage with players, so that they do buy in. And if his system is too limiting, or his people skills aren’t up to the job, to get enough good players to buy in, then he’ll fail. The early indications are good, though.
Except that Kelly got the best out of Jackson and that every ex-Duck, ex-NH and all Eagles player love playing for him? Even Jackson stated that he love playing for Kelly.
Two way street. You have no idea, and are speculating, that DeSean is meeting his obligation to the team, to his coach.
It is NOT Chip’s job to keep DeSean “happy” at all costs, to the detriment of the team.
It *is* Chip’s job to WIN. And it will be up to him to prove he can do it without DeSean. I bet he can.
This wouldn’t be a knee-jerk move. Kelly spent the 2013 season trying to figure out who fit and who didn’t. This isn’t like Buddy Ryan instantly deciding that he didn’t like a player and getting rid of him
I beg to differ.. Why have the Eagles tried to trade DeSean last year already?!
In my eyes it would be an insane move which would instantly atop the moves of idiocity in the last 10 years, even ahead of promoting an OL coach to DC and a 37- year old firefighter in the 1st round.
This feels all like a bad dream, heck it feels even worse than losing to the Saints in the playoffs as my fellow French Eagles can pointed out.
You know when Dave Spadaro said the Eagles are winning in this offseason?! It’s more like killing it now, but in a bad way.
Getting rid of one of the top 10 WR throws your ‘BPA’ approach in this year’s draft right out the window, unless you really think that another Billy McMullen or Na Brown/Gari Scott will be the answer in the 3rd and 4th round, respectively. #vomit
Remember how we dumped TO despite him been the best WR in the NFL?
Same reason here, if he is a bad locker room guy and doesnt fit, you get rid of him.
Then you need to read my other post above, my friend. DeSean is nowhere near the bad guy that TO [publicly] was. Players like Jackson don’t grow on trees and if you rather would like to search the next 10 drafts for a WR like him then good luck with that…
There was a report that DJ and the WR were constantly arguing on the side lines last year….
TO started an all out media war with the franchise QB and conducted press conferences in his front lawn while doing sit ups. Not quite there with Desean yet
I agree, getting rid of Desean would be idiocy unless they have been hiding really bad things really well. Talent wins games, and he is one of the most talented players on the team. I hope they don’t think they can unload him and pick up a young received to be ready for their run in 2017 when Shady and Peters are declining.
Chip Kelly was brought in to build the football programme, not just a team.
He has some very specific and different ideas.
A key phrase since he joined has been “getting buy in”. He makes it clear there is a reason for everything and he explains it to the players.
If DeSean is not conforming to these concepts and requirements then this will undermine Chip’s position with the rest of the team.
Also given DeSean’s skill set how long before he begins to decline? If he isn’t buying into the programme beliefs, then he is potentially impacting the programme development and is unlikely to be a difference maker in ’15&’16 (when we should have realistic SB hopes) then why keep him now?
That is reasoning for selling high. Not for a third round pick.
Exactly … If we get a 1st, 3rd and conditional 5th, I’m all for it. If we get a late 3rd, I’ll punch a baby…
Trading desean for a third is a bigger mistake than starting vick last season. C’mon Chip.
If it’s true that the Eagles are looking for a 3rd round pick then get yourself used to the idea that we easily could end up with a 4th round pick for a 27-year old top 10 WR who’s just coming off the second best receiving year in franchise history. #sellinghigh
I cannot believe that I am going to write this now, but I don’t see any way how DeSean will be back with the Eagles this year, not if the Eagles FO is coming out publicily to kill these whole trade rumors rather sooner than later.
As we all know DeSean’s a little bit of a prima donna with a sensitive ego. It wouldn’t sit well with him to know that the Eagles tried to trade him in back-to-back off-seasons, let alone for a ridiculous 3rd round pick.
You can hate his lifestyle as a rapper or homeboy as much as you want, but his attitude on and off the field has always come across remarkable. From what I have been reading and seeing he always gives his ALL in practice and on gamedays, he does ALOT for the kids in our community and he seems to love the city of Philadelphia and his team. Or in other words, he’s nowhere close to being a locker room cancer like TO was.
That being said I am absolutely flabbergasted seeing this off-season drama to not go away…
The Eagles have let this story get out of control and they have to know by now that it is not just going to go away. It’s past the point where even denying that anything is up would be sufficient to kill the momentum of the story.
Everything you say about Desean’s community service is documented and commendable, but none of us are informed enough about the team’s innerworkings and locker room politics to know whether and to what degree he is a cancer (though I would also guess that he’s not as big of a problem as the guy who tried to out his quarterback in a porno interview, if he’s a problem at all). If he’s insubordinate to bicknell and he’s poisoning other players (hypothetically) and if chip views that as tantamount to treason, then the shopping may be justified. As far as compensation, there’s no question that a third rounder is underpayment, but what if its to the point where the eagles would cut him instead of bringing him back. Don’t you take what you can get? We have to know the whole story before we can assess what’s happening.
where was the `ALL` the year he admittedly gave less effort due to his not getting more money soon enough,even though still under contract ,which he signed?
You mean that year where he had 961 receiving yards in 15 games while Maclin’s best season was 964 yards in 16 games..?!
ahhh, the off season. Time for bs. No offense to the well thought out, well spoken responses, it’s just not worth my effort to read a word about this. Maybe tomorrow we can talk about Nate – again. Friday we can start rumors the Eagles signed Vick and the next 4 weeks talking about how Foles is upset. IDGAS. I created that. It’s mine!! Read IDGAS as — I Don’t Give A S***. Feel free to steal it :).
Don’t we all love the Eagles?! When you think you are happily married then they like to throw you a curveball by cheating on you with your wife.
This is such a joke…so let me get this straight, one of the most secret franchises who doesn’t leak anything, who didn’t let us find out about a single free agent visit beforehand, is going to let this leak, lowering his value causing mass hysteria to the point where we can’t bring Desean back and have to dump him cheap? GUFO here..media couldn’t find out we were interested in friggin Bryan Braman, and I’m supposed to believe that if Desean is ever traded we would know about it before hand? GTFO here!! Does Howie look like boo boo the fool to Yous?
…
If Desean were ever traded it would be the most covert black ops operation ever,mwe wouldn’t have a clue it was coming..
…
Who benefits from this? NOT THE EAGLES…either two things are going on:
1) joke of a the media found out about the raiders offer, blew this way out of proportion, and got about 10’days worth of stories out of it without having to do any work or gather any intel…
….
Or
2) Deseans agent is making this BS up, brilliantly saying it would be for a 3rd round pick, knowing eagles fans would lose their mind. What’s the best way for the eagles to squash this? THROW MORE MONEY AT HIS CLIENT and make this all go away!!
….
Howie does not allow leaks, there is NO way in hell, that we would want this to get out if it were true. we would NEVER hear about this…but the last person that benefits is Howie and the eagles, which means this is BOGUS!! And I won’t spend another moment of my time discussing it…have at it boys
I hope you are right. I just don’t see it though..
This is NOT how a GM would operate to try and maximize his value on a TRADEable asset…this this isn’t real!
…
You wanna know what the eagles will do, or if something is real, then look at your “what would a well run organization do?” Bracelet and if it doesn’t coincide with how a well run team would operate, then it’s not real!!! Howie is no fool!
..
This is NOT in the eagles best interest, so this is NOT REAL
can’t wait til Chip has enough success to go the Bellicek route, shut the media down and give them no access. Fools only care about causing trouble. Can’t have one fucking offseason in peace with this joke TMZ media…and like fools we all bite and post 500 comments every single day even without any new facts being provided
If it is #2, DeSean should fire his agent. Why would the agent start a rumor that the Eagles can only get a third round pick for him because no one is willing to pick up his contract? That is not going to make the Eagles throw more money at his client.
Do you see how this is snowballing? Start enough of a crap storm Eagles might think some GUARENTEED money is the best way to shut this down and get “dailed in” Desean again…
…
It’s a lot more likely that his agent started it, since the teams used in the example is complete BS cause they have no damn cap room..then it’s likely that Howie started negotiations at a 3rd round pick, and is devaluing one of his most valuable trade assets by letting this leak
…
But if I had to bet money on it, I say media just blew the raiders offer out of proportion and got to eat off a non story for 10 days, without having to do any real work or find any real facts…sounds just like the philly media to me..
I like the idea that the agent leaked “3rd rounder” to basically kill any possibility of a deal actually happening. Makes more sense than the Eagles looking to dump him for scraps.
For the record, first time I heard low round garbage attached to this rumor was at GangGreenNation. So if it wasn’t the agent, I’d bet it’s just the echo chamber changing “I think the Jets should offer a 3rd for him” into “The Eagles are looking for a 3rd”. That is how rumors get started… Especially ones that don’t make much sense.
Seriously feel bad for gullible eagles fans who are getting all beant out of shape over NOTHING!!!
..
Btw,
Desean says he would be “really hurt” if the eagles traded him and that he really wants to end his career in philly..
…
And Nate said he only had one year deals on the table, so if he had to take a prove it deal, it made sense to go play for the defense he already knows and is comfortable in
you believe everything people say? I doubt, with certainty, that Nate did not have multiple offers.
You think no other teams offered him a one year deal? I posted that for the people yesterday who tried to tell me “maybe he turned down Multi year deals to come back to philly”..he admitted to a room full of reporters that he only had a few one year offers on the table which is pretty friggin Embarressing..if he were going to lie, that is not what he would have said
lmao. True. But, it’s not as embarrassing as saying “this was my only offer”.
Every offer he got was probably very similar. And certainly he has no team where he would have a better chance to win the starting job than the Eagles, as currently constituted, where he would only need to beat out Wolff. (Of course the Eagles or any other team might draft a rookie to compete, but that’s an unknown no matter who he were to sign with).
And there has to be something attractive about playing a 2nd year in the same system, which he hasn’t done yet.
He also knows Billy wants to use 3 safety sets, so even if Wolff takes his job, he will still get to show what he can do in games…
and — not too far fetched of an idea — is the Eagles ARE on the rise. SB bound. Not this year … but the ship appears to be pointed in the right direction.
It would never be his only offer. Safety play is so poor league wide, that someone would ATleast try and lowball him…and not many teams have better 3rd or 4th safeties then Nate. It’s not like he is Kurt Coleman who shouldn’t even be in the NFL..he had to have some other offers on the table..and I don’t believe he was lying
true — all true…
I always said I wish we had a magic wand that could put one more year on his contract to see what he could do under the same DC for two seasons in a row..I thought I needed a magic wand because someone would offer him a 3yr deal around Chung money..so I’m actually surprised that none of the dumb franchises offered him more then one year….but their loss is ours gain…we may not like Nate as our first or second safety, but we ain’t finding many better 3rd or 4th safeties so I’m hype to see him back..
…
I also thought it would be best to have two safeties on this roster who already know the defense..find it much healthier then just returning a second year wolff..
…
Hopefully getting continuity in a scheme for the first time in his career will bring us the best Nate we have ever seen! and he surprises us so much that we keep him Longterm but I’m not counting on it
What’s really crazy is that this whole story hatched in JIMMY BAMA’S BRAIN. And yet now it’s snowballed into multiple stories by Tommy, Sheil, Tim and even Les Bowen and Jackson’s camp being nervous. I think perhaps they all need to watch some of Jimmy’s YouTube videos before taking this seriously…
Tell Mr. Gunn to reveal his (non-existing) source….
Apologies in advance for posting before reading the other posts, so I may be treading trodden ground:
This is a really good take on the situation. I do disagree with one sentence in particular though:
If that is the case, this would be the time to make the move.
I really feel like this is not the time to make the move. Draft your WR as high as you want. If Maclin looks healthy this season and the rookie WR looks like he’s going to pan out, THEN trade DJax next year. I just really think it’s too big of a gamble to trade him now.
Since I haven’t read all the other posts yet either, I’ll respond to yours. 🙂
I’m with you on this, EXCEPT, we really don’t know what may be happening behind the scenes at Novacare. Is Jackson such a malcontent that they just don’t want to deal with him anymore? I just don’t think a 3rd Round pick is that great of a value but maybe they think they’ll get even less if they wait another year.
Jackson is so much more to the offense than his 82 catches and 1300 yards. He contributes to the success of everyone else on that offense. I just hope Chip and Howie know what they’re doing if they decide to move on.
We found out that Chip fined Shady 100,000 dollars last offseason…where are Deseans fines if he is so bad? When was he ever sent home? Suspended? Chip could fine the best running back In football 100k before ever proving himself as an NFL coach. Yet I’m supposed to believe Desean was a locker room nightmare and he was never even fined? Makes no sense whatsoever. This is a fairy tale Jimmy started because of the raiders offer. Don’t believe it at all
This whole thing stinks like yesterday’s diapers.
That is unless you need the ammunition you would get in a DJax trade to get the WR you really want.
D-Jax for Rollins straight up.
Rather braid his hair, dress him in an Iverson jersey and trade him to the dumb ass Sacremento Kings for the 5th pick in the draft
I think Tommy would prefer D-Jax for M-Fox straight up.
I am sure Tommy wouldn’t be picky about straight up. Straight up, bent over, upside down…
In less than 40 minutes we went from D-Jax to morning wood. Good grief.
Ask your selves who benefits? Howie is the last person to benefit out of all this..
..
media seems like it has benefited most. They got 500 responses every single day, writing the same crap they wrote the day before, not having to find a single fact…
…
WHO Benefits? Always reveals the truth…and Howie and the eagles would be MAJOR losers if this were true and it has been leaked like this..and I think way more highly of our front office then to think they played their hand this amateurishly
Again, I would love you to be right, but Derrick Gunn has seeemed to be a very reliable source in the past…
What sources? Name one move we have Made in two years that was ever leaked in advance? When have we ever known something that ended up happening in advance? His sources couldn’t figure out we had interest in a no name ST free agent, but we think the biggest scoop ever would be leaked like this…people have to Think really really poorly of Howie to believe he would play his had so poorly. No disrespect to anyone, but I think it’s a joke
Someone hurry up and post something to talk about please. I have an hour before a meeting and I’m so tired of this ten day fairy tale..and Yous wonder why I have so much disdain for our media
The HD Re-master of FFX came out yesterday. Your thoughts? ~#5
Lol how bout them Yankees?
..
On a serious Note..Cossel spoke highly of my boy Moncrief saying some of his tape reminded him of Josh Gordon or damryious Thomas..
..
6’2 220lb physical beast of a WR who ran a 4.4? Where do we sign up?
Yankees are going undefeated this year 🙂
Knock yourself out, I never have a crap about baseball
Here’s something…Marvin McNutt would be a starting WR for Carolina if the season started today. That team is starting to resemble the 2001-2003 Eagles.
Lol they have 6WRs on their roster right now, who combine for 5 receptions total in the NFL lol…Believe it or not it’s true..
…
Cam anonouced he needs ankle surgery, with a 4month rehabs..so basically they just have a run game right now lol
Their paying the price for their previous moron GM who put them in cap hell.
I still strongly believe that trading Jackson would send the WRONG message to the TEAM.
It would signal that a) posting career numbers ain’t mean nothing and b) signing a lucrative (deserved!) long-term deal doesn’t guarantee you anything in this organization either.
OR….
Maybe it would send the message about what type of team Chip wants to build.
Again, NOBODY here has any idea what is happening behind the scenes, in the locker room. Whether you think DeSean is a saint or a malcontent and a distraction, you’re speculating.
The only people that really know are the players and coaches.
it would 1 thing .. and only 1 thing … playing for Chip is WHY DJ posted career numbers. Chips system is why he/Shady/Coop had an amazing season.
Shady was great before Chip came. Cooper I agree benefitted greatly.
he was great before Chip — but last year he played elite…
Coop benefited more from DeSean than DeSean benefited from Chip’s system. Got it?! 🙂
I think players already operate under both those assumptions which is why you always hear players say they want more guaranteed money.
For everyone complaining about the potential compensation, you guys understand this is a market, right?
If all the Eagles can get is a 3rd round pick for him (and his contract), then that is all he is worth.
A lot of national writers seem to think a 3rd round pick is actually expensive given DeSean’s contract and attitude.
Amazing how many of you forgot DeSean quit on the team in 2011. Nobody forgave AI for his “practice” press conference and he NEVER quit on his team like DJax did.
Oh — I don’t forget. It’s why I call him me-sean. But I get yelled at for name calling…..
DJax never quit on Kelly that I know of.
And “worth” can mean different things to different people. The value the market sets for a player is not the only way to judge his worth and it’s not the metric those opposed to the trade are using.
I think most of us think he is worth more to the eagles than a third round pick. It may very well be that he is worth more to the eagles than any other team, and without a person currently on the team who can do what he does, it would be a huge gamble to dump him assuming you can replace his skill set in the draft. You never know how the draft will unfold. The smart play here was to squash the rumor and trade him on draft day.
Maybe the Eagles are trying to send Jackson a message more than trade him–shape up, act like a pro, or (as Harry Kalas would say) you’re…. outttaaa hhereeee!
I’d say, if we draft a receiver in round one or two–look out– we will immediately trade Jackson for a 3rd rounder and I hope a 4th or 5th as well. Use those picks for defensive help.
I get the sense that Desean does not respond well to that sort of motivation. Instead of having a monster contract year he mailed it in. Of course if you look at the stat sheet you wouldn’t know it.
Desean is the type of guy that needs to feel loved and wanted. He is addicted to positive attention. If this were some ploy meant to motivate him (to do better than 1300 yards..), it would be disastrous and beneath the Eagles.
I enjoy the fact that someone who divulges personal information about someone to the public is considered a “confidant”.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO
Heard that. Happy for him. Can you believe he is only 28?
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm292/gusw666/props/EBAYALTA.jpg
Haha. Nice. I just watched that like two weeks ago.
Still think it is insane to let DJ go but no one is untradeable. Maybe they are sending a message to DJ. Maybe they are just letting this play out to see where it leads. Hey, if some team is foolish enough to offer a 1st, he is gone.
The odds of a 1st rounder going to multiple pro bowls is less than 20%. I don’t know what they are for a 3rd rounder. Trading DeSean Jackson makes no sense, not even for a 1st rounder.
Personally, I want to keep Desean for this year – moving him for even a 1 means that they have to draft a WR in this draft, which goes against a the whole BPA philosophy they’ve committed to. Moving Desean creates a hole on the roster, IMO.
At the same time, I’ve been saying for a while that I think Chip views character differently that what most of the media and public view it as. I think to Chip, the important character trait has very little to do with morality or things of that nature, but has to do with loving the game, and ALWAYS putting your all out there when on the field. While Desean was a relatively good soldier last year (after having a sit down with Chip in late spring/early summer), he’s admitted to tanking a season because of monetary issues. I actually don’t really blame Desean for that, but I have a feeling that the admission raises a HUGE red flag for Chip.
I guess its probably just confirmation bias, but my feeling is that Desean plays for the Eagles in 2014, and is probably moved next offseason, if the WR situation looks more settled.
The key quote from Tim : ” he spoke with every key veteran on the roster during the draft last April immediately after picking someone at their position”. He spoke to guys on the team because he had actually done something that affected them. The Eagles have done nothing to effect Desean’s position on this team. Why should they feel that they have to address every speculation, especially concerning Desean. Like it or not the guy is a lightening rod. Are they going to bring him in to the office every time there is a publicity non-issue with him? No.
That said this has gotten to the point where I expect they will reach out to Desean. Nothing that has been written from Desean’s side is new. Now it is public that he is disturbed. If we hear this time next week that Desean still has not heard from them, it is time to be concerned.
Until we hear AGAIN that Desean is in the dark (and they site recently). This means nothing to me. My one concern about this is that, after witnessing the RG3 public image implosion that clearly affected his play, I would hate to watch that happen on our Eagles.
Just throwing out a story suggestion here…how would you attack this team if you were an opposing d coordinator? I would blitz Foles relentlessly…the one criticism I have is how he handled pressure. Obviously we hope he continues to improve his recognition, using his hot options , and throwing away more effectively. What could we do schematically our in the draft to help with this? How would you use Sproles to help?
I normally try not to read too much into tweets of NFL players, but seeing DeSean’s latest tweets makes me think that Jimmy K. might have been right all along (props for that).
Up Early B4 the SunRise !! Reflecting my Journey & how far I came !!#Fearless #BelAirinstagram.com/p/lucVINONhK/
10 retweets
Sent 41m ago
From Instagram
The only way I’m happy with trading #10 is if we somehow got in position to replace him with sammy watkins (pipedream) or if we traded him straight up for a stud OLB (pipedream). So basically what I’m saying is, I would be pretty peeved if we traded him.
If you go strictly by the draft value chart it would take our 1st and 2nd round picks to get up to #13. Watkins won’t be there but at least one of the safeties would be. I don’t see them with parting with their 2nd round pick to do that though.
Another opinion….
http://gcobb.com/2014/03/19/desean-jackson-rumors-keep-growing/
A few points:
1) WR is the most overrated position in football, look at Detroit with Megatron. An offense is built around the QB and the OL, have that and you can create skill players, without those two, great skill players are wasted.
2) DeSean had multiple altercations with his WR coach, now Chip choose his coaches primarily to teach the game the way he wanted to play, why did DeSean clash so much Avant had to restrain him? Forget the contract noise, that’s business, they can ignore it, but obviously DeSean was doing some things his coaches did not like on the field.
3) Chip has full belief in his system, at Oregon, he never had an impact receiver, Maehl was his only 1000 yard receiver in six years. So I suspect Chip feels he can replace DeSean (not with another DeSean, but by tweaking the scheme). Unlike MM’s offense, which built off the threat posed by DeSean, Chip focuses his offense through his blocking schemes and the run game, DeSean gets moved around (and remember he was demoted in camp because he was lazy about learning the other WR positions, “what do you mean learn the slot, I go deep man”) like everyone else.
4) Chip is establishing a culture as well as adding talent, if to maintain that culture he has to subtract some athletic talent he won’t think twice.
5) WR talent in the draft has increased over the past few years and will continue to increase for a simple reason, more HS and college teams pass the ball, and often with multiple WR formations, so far more athletes are getting reps at WR, increasing the supply of athletic, experienced college receivers. Chip is used to plugging new players into his system, he did it in college, he did it here, so he probably feels that replacing a WR isn’t as hard as say replacing a starting OL.
Doesn’t mean they’re looking to move DeSean, just means they see no reason to put up with any bull from him. He’s a luxury, not a necessity.
Re: Megatron
But, but, they just need to draft another WR in the first round to get that offense moving!
There’s no player that’s above being traded. If, for example, a team offered you their entire next two drafts, is there any player on the team you wouldn’t give up at that price? So in that sense, Desean is definitely on the trade block. If we’re talking about a simple question of price, and the market rate is a third, I think he’s far more valuable from a production stand point than what you’re going to get in return.
Obviously I don’t know what happens behind closed doors, but nothing about his behavior says to me that he can’t be handled to the extent that he needs to be traded or released.
Why hasn’t the the team responded? 1. They don’t have to. 2. The rumour is out there… Might as well let some teams call around to see what they’ll offer you. I assume he would be more valuable on draft day than he is now.
What Kelly needs is a WR that can blow the top off coverages and create space for his offense. If that guys also capable if putting up 80+ catches over 1300 yards and 9 TDs, I’d say that’s exactly the kinda guy Kelly needs.
Marty and Andy definitely need that. I wouldn’t be so sure about Chip.
Chips offense is predicated on creating numerical mismatches by spreading the defense as far as it can both vertically and horizontally. If you think that means that having someone that stretches defenses vertically better than any other WR in the game isn’t a huge asset then I’m not sure what else to say other than I strongly disagree. Chips a brilliant offensive coach, but he still needs the personnel to make his offense run. People who think he’s so brilliant he can scheme a top offense with anyone out there are sorely mistaken
So, what I haven’t really seen yet is a comprehensive pro/con to keeping DeSean. To be clear, I’m in the camp of “why the hell would you want to get rid of DeSean, let alone for a 3rd or 4th round pick?” He is a unique weapon that doesn’t grow on trees or in the 3rd round. But perhaps to be objective and move this discussion along, it’s worth starting discussing the pros/cons.
I’ll start with the following and let the group continue this discussion:
Pro’s
1. Unique weapon, namely, speed and ability to stretch field vertically (which is a key schematic tool for Kelly’s offense and pretty much any offense out there)
2. More versatile as a receiver than many give credit (screens, end arounds, etc.)
3. #1 wide receiver production in 2013 (9th in receiving yards)
4. No major areas of liability on the field — adequate blocker, good/decent route runner, effort appeared to be there on the field in 2013
5. Drop off to Maclin/Cooper significant in terms of past production and vertical threat
6. Production strong despite 1st year in Kelly’s system; could build on that in 2014 with a 2nd year
Con’s
1. May not be a cultural fit in Chip Kelly’s system
2. Salary not cheap (although one could argue matches production)
3. Not getting any younger; concern about speed being a longer-term weapon when Eagles are ready to compete
4. 2013 draft loaded with WR talent, so could be opportunity to groom a new, young guy who does fit Kelly’s system
5. Cooper, of all people, proved to be a legitimate deep threat in Kelly’s System (although he did play across from DeSean)
6. Lacks the size of a Maclin or Cooper; not in the mold of a lot of #1 WRs, like Calvin Johnson, Brandon Marshall, Dez, Julio, etc.
1. May not be a cultural fit in Chip Kelly’s system
2. Salary not cheap (although one could argue matches production)
Those are 2 of the biggest factors for a new coach. I don’t like what’s happening or going on. I don’t feel like the player is being treated fairly or respectfully… After the season he just had.
(I get that there are politics in football as well. Things can go from bad to worse really, in an instant. Because of the immediacy and the nature of the information. The situation gets painted with a wiiiide brush. Basically: What we’re talking about now.)
If the new head coach is being reported to that said diva WR. Is being cantankerous and a bit obtuse. How can the coach cultivate the proper culture? Again, “it’s been said all of a sudden that DesSean isn’t the greatest in the locker-room.” I mean really?? I’ve never heard that spoken of about him, until the last 48 hours. DeSean is a veteran now. He should be the example in the most positive way. There shouldn’t be any questions like this. They exist because of DeSean. He’s been amazing on the field, active in the community enough off it. But, he is immature at times. Which in turn, infringes on his focus. He hasn’t been a malcontent. I wouldn’t really think too much of it. The sideline spat was a negative thing. But, we’ve seen others have worse.
How many playoff wins has DeSean carried us too in the past five years I forget?
For those who think this is media driven then why haven’t the Eagles hit the breaks on it?
There is no way in you know what that trading Jackson isn’t knee-jerk. I’m sorry. If Chip and Howie make this move they will certainly have to answer for years about this. I’m not, we’re not, you’re not in the lockerrom. But, “cancer” is a strong word to describe DeSean’s thus far 5 years. He’s been “Bitchy” at most. But, a jolt of energy otherwise.