The way the Eagles released DeSean Jackson last week and all the reports that were leaked, you knew there was more to the story than what was on the surface. The initial report was the Eagles were not comfortable with the “affiliations” Jackson had with alleged gang members back in California. The more time that has passed however, a different story is developing. One that has more to do with his relationship with the coaches and players in the Eagles locker room. You have to see what people within the organization had to say. Hit the jump.
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I always hate when people hide behind “anonymous sources” but these reports are very interesting. Reports say that Jackson cursed at coach Chip Kelly numerous times and was insubordinate and threw temper tantrums. But the following statements are really eye opening.
“The fact is, [Jackson] was a ‘me-guy’ with an attitude problem and [Maclin] is the complete opposite, a team guy, a great character guy you go to war with,” said one source. “Funny how [Jackson] has this anti-bully thing and he thought he could push [Kelly] around; he found out otherwise. His being cut had nothing to do with the gang stuff. The team knew it. Everyone knew he had ‘ties.’ Those were his guys. That’s okay. What put him out was his selfishness. He can try and spin it all he wants how he’s ‘a team player.’ He’s not. I’ll put it this way, when it came out last Friday that [Jackson] was released, more than a few guys were happy it happened. They said ‘good riddance.’ He had no real connection with anyone.
“Yes, you can say he was the type that could catch three TDs in a loss—everyone would be down, but you had the impression he was happy, because he got his. It was all about him. A lot of guys thought that way about him. [Kelly] came in here with a plan to get this thing right, and the one major [obstacle] standing in his way was [Jackson]. If we were going to move forward as a team, he had to go. Think about it—did anyone come right out and back him publicly? Not one.”
It doesn’t stop there. Remember these are former Eagles teammates saying these things:
“You see little kids and how they cry and whine when they don’t get their way, that was D-Jax,” another source said. “I don’t think [Jackson] gave [Kelly] the respect he deserved. Kelly tried to reach [Jackson] plenty of times and [Jackson] tuned him out. Then you look at team functions, when everyone is out together at charity things or social stuff. He was the one missing. It was like he was in ‘D-Jax world’ and we just happened to be there.
“With Reid, [Jackson] tried pushing boundaries there, too, but he looked at Reid, I think, much differently than he looked at [Kelly]. Reid came in with an NFL pedigree. He was the guy that drafted [Jackson]. He was the one that called him on draft day and laid the law down right then: [Reid] wouldn’t tolerate any outside interference from anyone. Now you get this college guy [Kelly] and he’s not going to tell [Jackson] what to do. [Kelly] has a vision for this team—and he is a very old-school coach in a lot of ways. But there’s only so much [a coach] can take.”
“That’s [Kelly’s] way,” said one source. “It pisses me off that [Kelly] comes off looking like the bad guy here. It wasn’t just [Kelly] that wanted him gone. [Kelly] got a lot of feedback from guys that felt we were better off without [Jackson], too. [Kelly] is very much a player’s coach. His office is open to anyone. Now [Jackson] is the Redskins’ problem. We have something good going here and it’s going to get better without [Jackson]. He had to go.”
It seems most of the Eagles are actually happy DeSean is gone. There are even reports that certain players would not of re-signed with the team if he was gonna be there, so it sounds like Philly knew for a long time they were going to get rid of him one way or another.
With things like this only time will be able to tell if all the negative things about him are true. If he starts to have issues in Washington over the next couple years then it will give more weight to the way the Eagles got rid of him.
