Did DeSean Jackson just play his final game with the Philadelphia Eagles?

Will the next time we see a number 10 Philadelphia Eagles’ jersey be in the rafters of the Linc?

In Week 1 of the 2019 NFL season, there wasn’t a better wide receiver in the NFL than DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Finally back where it all began in a swanky new Nike midnight green jersey, Jackson lit it up as Carson Wentz‘s top target to the tune of 154 yards on nine targets. Jackson led all receivers in fantasy football points, scored two touchdowns on his former team, and looked like the missing piece who could transform the Eagles’ underwhelming 2018 offense into a legit top-10 unit.

… and then he got hurt.

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10 snaps into the team’s Week 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, Jackson suffered a core muscle injury that really should have landed the former second-round pick on IR but unfortunately lingered on without a scheduled surgery on the books. Granted, Jackson did attempt to return in a Week 9 win over the Chicago Bears, but he only lasted four snaps before reaggravating the same injury that finished him out for good.

Though Jackson was still under contract for the 2020 season – and technically for the 2021 season too – many national observers openly questioned whether the 33-year-old receiver would be back for his 13th professional season; with Pro Football Focus’s 2 for 1 Drafts podcast outwardly musing that the team should cut him outright after adding Jalen Reagor, John Hightower, Quez Watkins, and Marquise Goodwin on draft weekend.

That obviously didn’t happen, as Jackson played and played pretty well in the Eagles’ first three contests of the season – amassing 121 yards on 10 receptions – but once again, in Week 3, disaster struck, and number 10 was on the mend again – this time with a “minor hamstring strain”.

Fortunately for Philly, this season’s injury was much more cut and dry and only lasted four weeks, with his return scheduled for the Eagles’ Week 7 Thursday Night Football bout against the New York Giants.

In theory, the conditions couldn’t have been more right for a big performance for the player affectionately known as ‘Jaccpot’. Even with the emergence of Travis Fulgham as a legitimately talented ‘X’ wide receiver capable of putting up 70-plus yards with regularity, the Eagles’ offense was in desperate need of some additional juice. With Miles Sanders out and yet another reshuffling of the offensive line in front of Wentz, bringing back a 4.35 speedster who could take the top off of an admittedly horrible Giants secondary felt like just what the doctor ordered for a return to form game in the notoriously lucky all-black uniforms.

Play one of the game? A reverse pitch to Jackson for a crisp 12 yards.

Wait; what? A first down on the first offensive play of the game? Is that even allowed?

It was, and Wentz returned to Jackson early and often in the first half of the game – targeting his starting wide receiver a team-high five more times for 34 yards en route to a 10-7 half-time score. Assuming Jackson received a similar workload in the second half, he’d have been on pace for a near-70 yard performance, with the chance to take it to the house on any given play.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Jackson wasn’t targeted again in the second half – though, to be fair, the team only picked up five completions in their next four possessions – and was all but ghosted when the team needed him most.

Down five with 129 seconds left to play, Doug Pederson inserted Jackson into the game as a punt returner, presumably to try to recapture some of that ‘Miricle at the Meadowlands‘-magic this side of the Delaware. Once again, not the worst idea, as Jackson made his first Pro Bowl appearance as a special teamer and practiced as a big-play punter returner in camp in both 2019 and 2020, but was it really wise to put a 33-year-old back deep with the game on the line mere days after being cleared to play for the first time in almost a month?

In hindsight, no, no, it was not.

Lined up deep, Jackson hauled in Ryan Dixon’s 41-yard punt in heavy coverage and was brutally dropped by second-year cornerback Corey Ballentine. His leg twisted awkwardly and was subsequently taken off his feet in the aftermath, leading to visible frustration on the face of the Eagles’ second-most tenured player and a pair of trainers helping to walk the receiver off the field.

Jackson took a one-way trip to the locker room on a medical cart in a temporary cast, posting a picture on his Instagram story shortly thereafter with the caption “Pray for me y’all !!”.

That’s… not usually a good sign.

While only time will tell exactly what his injury time table will end up being, as I guess it could just be a sprain (it’s not), it’s really, really hard to imagine the Eagles putting Jackson back in the line of fire anytime soon – with a trip to IR almost certainly awaiting the veteran receiver in his not too distant future – if ever at all.

As previously mentioned, Jackson is technically still under contract through the 2021 season, but the team has an out at the end of this season, where they can save $5.13 million versus $5.8 million in dead money. What does that mean exactly? Well, it means that the Eagles could either pay Jackson the full value of the final year of his contract ($10.9 million), or they can let him walk and recoup $5.13 million towards their cap situation.

With the team currently over the still-to-be-decided cap limit by around $70 million, it’s virtually impossible to imagine the Eagles keeping a soon-to-be 34-year-old receiver who is averaging 3.5 games per season on a seemingly endless string of injuries.

In only 100 offensive snaps, Reagor already has as many 50 yard receptions as Jackson over the last two years. The same goes for Hightower, who actually recorded his second straight game with a 50-plus yard reception in the Birds’ Week 7 win. Factor in Goodwin’s presumed return from the COVID opt-out list, and the Eagles will suddenly be flush with speedy receivers, all of whom make a lot less than $5 million in 2021.

Granted, outside of Goodwin, none of those receivers run a sub-4.4, and only Reagor maybe can match his electricity with the ball in his hands. Still, as tough as it is to admit, those special moments only Jackson can be counted on providing have become fewer and further between, with only one catch of over 25 yards (27) on the season.

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Which, honestly, is fine. No player, not even an all-time great can play forever, even if they’d like to. Eventually, everyone has to look back objectively on their legacy and accept it for what it is, even if that day comes a tad sooner than one would like. For DeSean Jackson, that could ultimately mean 611 receptions for 10,575 yards and 55 touchdowns and a near-guaranteed spot in the Philadelphia Eagles’ Hall of Fame. Though his final snap with the team may not have gone how he would have liked, on a two-yard punt return that garnered a 15-yard penalty, it feels almost fitting that next time we see the number 10 jersey at Lincoln Financial Field – outside of the stands, of course – it will be hanging in the rafters alongside the Philadelphia Eagles’ other all-timers.

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