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DeSean Jackson release shows that talent isn't everything in the NFL

DeSean Jackson led the Eagles in catches, receiving yards and TDs, but the Eagles deemed him expendable.

DeSean Jackson led the Eagles in catches, receiving yards and TDs, but the Eagles deemed him expendable.

In time perhaps we'll know the details and understand Philadelphia's motivation behind the move better than we do now. Did the Eagles feel pressure to act because they were worried that Jackson could some day cast the organization in the kind of harsh light that New England found itself in last summer with Hernandez, with the Patriots being forced to defend how they missed any sign of his potential for violence?

But the playing field on gameday obviously isn't where Kelly found Jackson lacking. And this wasn't a just-business salary cap maneuver either. Jackson hung up great numbers in 2013 and hadn't priced himself out of the Eagles' salary cap. This was more about who he was than what he was. It was a judgment call made by Philadelphia that Jackson had become part of the problem rather than part of the solution. The issues the Eagles had with him as a person overwhelmed the positives he produced as a player, and in the NFL, making a call like that is still relatively rare.