Philadelphia Eagles: DeSean Jackson probably should have stayed in LA

If the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl, DeSean Jackson will receive his first and potentially only Super Bowl ring.

Yup, after watching from home while his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, won it all back in February of 2018, and then watching from home when one of his other former teams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won a Super Bowl in their home stadium, the player affectionately known as D-Jax could finally add the biggest piece of jewelry the NFL has to offer to his trophy case thanks to his hometown Los Angeles Rams.

That’s the good news. The bad news? Just like with the Eagles and the Bucs, Jackson will be watching this year’s Super Bowl from home instead of the sidelines, as he worked his way off the Rams’ roster in order to get more playing time with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Granted, would Jackson still be on the Rams’ roster now if he hadn’t asked to be traded and then released? Potentially not, as Los Angeles did eventually sign Odell Beckham Jr. after he was released by the Cleveland Browns and may have released Jackson to clear a roster spot, but goodness, I doubt this is how the pride of Long Beach would like to earn a Super Bowl ring, especially when the game is mere minutes up the road in Inglewood.

Hey, at least one former Philadelphia Eagles player could get a ring this year.

When DeSean Jackson asked for his way out of Los Angeles, the Rams were a very different team.

Sure, the Rams were 6-1, with their lone loss coming against the Arizona Cardinals, but they had yet to secure the services of Odell Beckham Jr., Von Miller, or Eric Weddle, who came out of retirement to pursue a ring with his long-time team. While many still felt Los Angeles had a chance to represent their city in the Super Bowl, largely off the strength of Matt Stafford’s MVP-level play, the team was firmly behind teams like Green Bay and in many an NFL power ranking.

Heck, even Los Angeles’ other team, the Chargers, looked like they had a decent enough chance to represent their division in the playoffs, which is probably a big part of why Jackson felt confident enough in his ability to latch on with another contender and play out his 14th season on the field, instead of playing a part-time role or worse on his hometown team.

After some speculation and a minor bidding war, Jackson chose to take his talents to Vegas, baby, where he could slide into the offensive lineup in place of released deep threat Henry Ruggs III.

In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best idea.

Jackson appeared in nine games for the Raiders with four starts and finished out his Raiders run with 12 catches on 19 targets for 233 yards and one touchdown. While those numbers are slightly better than his production in Los Angeles overall, his yards per game actually dropped from 27.6 to 19.4. He surpassed the 100-yard mark once, in his third game with the Raiders, but only caught more than one pass in two games and finished out the season with the ninth-most receiving yards on the team behind, well, behind basically all of the team’s primary players.

Would things have turned out much better in LA? I mean, probably not, Jackson would have remained the team’s fourth option behind Cooper Kupp, Van Jefferson, and Robert Woods/Odell Beckham Jr., but when you have a creative play-caller like Sean McVay and play a sport as injury-prone as football, that’s not a bad place to be in.

Considering OBJ is doubtful to return for the second half of the Super Bowl with a knee injury, it’s hard not to wonder “What if.”

Does DeSean Jackson wish he was a member of the Los Angeles Rams today? Yes, he probably does. While he will most likely still leave the ordeal with a ring if the Rams pull it out, I sort of assume he would rather earn it the right way, on the field, instead of the seats at SoFi or in his Long Beach home. *sigh* oh well, maybe this will be the motivation needed to get D-Jax back on the field for a 15th season, as much like Jason Peters, he likely doesn’t want to go out like this.