DeSean Jackson unlikely to get new deal he wants
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson (10) carries the ball during the second quarter against the Chicago Bears at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles defeated the Bears 54-11. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Philadelphia Eagles star wide receiver DeSean Jackson is coming off of the best season of his career, and he’s finally asserted himself as a truly great receiver who can be depended upon as a No. 1 target. He’s still an explosive deep threat, but he’s a more polished route-runner with much better hands and is no longer an incredibly inconsistent, flash-in-the-pan kind of receiver. Jackson and Riley Cooper were excellent this season as the top two targets for emerging quarterback Nick Foles, who can clearly trust both receivers, especially when it comes to hitting them up downfield.
Jackson knows he is playing his best football, and I wonder if the desire to leverage that was a motivation for his comments earlier this week. The Cal product stated that he wants to receive a new deal from the Eagles, because he is upset that he won’t be making any guaranteed money. He’s set to make about $10 million per year for the next three years of his deal, but Jackson, who knows very well what an injury can do to a player after seeing Jeremy Maclin tear his ACL in the training camp of a contract year, wants the security that guaranteed money can bring.
Per a source close to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane, a new deal for Jackson is “unlikely” despite the wide receiver’s belief that he deserves it. It needs to be made clear that Jackson doesn’t want a raise, but he does want a restructuring that would give him guaranteed cash. The Eagles could do that if they allocate his base salary as guaranteed money, which could help them obtain more cap room, but it doesn’t sound like Howie Roseman and the organization are going to rework his deal.
One reason is the fact that the Eagles wouldn’t actually save cap room by doing that allocation in this case, so there isn’t any motivation for the Eagles to restructure D-Jax’s contract. Beyond that, D-Jax has little leverage, since he’s locked up for the forseeable future and was the one who agreed to the deal in the first place. I wouldn’t rule out an extension for Jackson, but it really doesn’t seem likely.