Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson has developed the image of being an immature diva early in his NFL career. When Jackson first caught wind that he may be taken off punt returns, his attitude surfaced and he made sure that he would keep some of his return duties.
While speaking Thursday morning on NFL AM, Jackson said that he told head coach Andy Reid to keep him on punt returns so he could provide the team a spark on special teams.
“I play wide receiver, don’t get me wrong,” Jackson said. “I have to be focused on wide receiver. But as far as punt return, I told coach Reid he can’t take me off of that. I might not be starting throughout the whole game, but here and there at spot times when they need me to go in there and spark the team up and make a big return, that’s what I’m going to do. But we have to game plan for all of the other teams; there are 31 other teams so we can’t just let them know what we’re going to do.”
There is no denying that Jackson is a dynamic playmaker and the Eagles should want the ball in his hands as much as possible. Last season was a down year as a punt returner for Jackson, but he seems to be very confident that he can return to top form. He will need to show vast improvement if he wants to keep his role on special teams.