DeSean Jackson has spent most of the 2020 season on IR, but he doesn’t intend to end it that way. The team have activated a 21-day practice window for the veteran receiver in hopes he can finish the season.
According to Mike Garafolo, he isn’t fully healthy just yet but is working his way back.
DeSean Jackson was fielding a punt against the Giants in week 7 when he sustained an illegal blow to the head. During the hit, he injured his leg and was assisted off the field by trainers before putting a picture on his story of a walking boot.
Jackson hadn’t been able to stay healthy during his second tenure with the birds, having played just 224 snaps out of a possible 1,737 at the time of injury. It’s been a horrible thing to watch given the level of sentiment with the move to bring him back, but it looks highly unlikely that Jackson is on the team past this season.
However, his return, much like Alshon Jeffery’s, could be problematic. Jalen Reagor (minor ankle injury) has back-to-back 40+ yard games, Quez Watkins just scored his first-ever NFL touchdown and we saw deep-threat potential from John Hightower this year. It would be really unfair on the young guys to allow Jackson to rip into their snap-counts as they did with Jeffery when he snatched away Travis Fulgham’s role.
Only adding to this is the fact that OT Casey Tucker was the main assigned to the practice squad in order to make room for Jackson’s return. An offensive tackle being moved after watching Matt Pryor give up 6 sacks in 2 games? Brilliant. While he could still be recalled, it creates another hurdle that didn’t need to be made.
There are only two games remaining and it would behoove the Eagles to ride the youth movement as opposed to once again trying to plug in veterans that hurt the team. They’ve done it one too many times this season and now that momentum is finally changing, rocking the boat makes little sense.
Photo by Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire
