Eagles Start Cautiously with DeSean Jackson

DeSean Jackson spent so much time on the sideline Sunday at FedExField, the default setting for many viewers was injury.

The 33-year-old speedster played in only 37 of the team's 68 offensive snaps, second at the position behind rookie Jalen Reagor, who was iffy coming into the game with a slightly torn labrum in his shoulder.

Jackson himself is coming off an essentially lost 2019 campaign due to a core-muscle injury and took to social media after the disappointing 27-17 loss against the Washington Football Team to explain the playing time was a coach's decision, not due to any kind of injury.

"For the record, I wasn't hurt or didn't get hurt. I'm good," Jackson wrote on Twitter.

On one hand, it's a prudent idea to manage Jackson's snap count at his age and with his injury history but that seems like something you may want to start a couple of weeks in after a good start to the season.

Jackson explained last week that he expected the coaching staff to keep an eye on his workload this season with the thought of December and January football in mind and seemed OK with the plan, which already included maintenance days during training camp.

“I think we’re all on one page, which is to keep me healthy and figure out how we can manage my plays and my reps so I can be playing in December and January,” said Jackson.

The Eagles have paid lip service to this kind of thing in the past, particularly with Fletcher Cox on the defensive line but quickly forget about it when the real bullets start flying. Cox, however, is still only 29 and will not turn the page to his fouth decade until December so there are differences.

That said when the Eagles started to struggle offensively in the second half and Reagor and fellow rookie John Hightower were hardly running the sharpest routes or fighting for the football against NFL cornerbacks, Jackson was still just as likely to be watching as participating.

“Obviously (Jackson) is a big part of the offense, but at the same time we want to make sure that he is a guy that healthy and fresh for us down the long haul,” said coach Doug Pederson. “I think each week I would anticipate his rep count to increase as we go."'

In last year's opener, when Jackson had two long touchdowns and 154 yards receiving in a five-point win over Washington, Jackson played 51 snaps (69 percent) then the following week in Atlanta suffered the injury that basically ended his season in its tracks.

By the end of Sunday's game, Jackson had recorded a 19-yard reception on the Eagles’ second offensive play of the game and then just one more catch the rest of the way, a 27-yard gain late in the third quarter. He was, however, targeted seven times, tying Greg Ward for the most among the WRs.

A 28.6 percent catch rate speaks to the efficacy of the connection between Carson Wentz and Jackson in the setback with the quarterback's accuracy problem potentially contributing to the issue as well as Jackson not getting a feel for the game due to the herky-jerky nature of his playing time.

The final snap-count tally at the position was Reagor (40), Jackson (37), Ward (30), J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (28), and Hightower (27).

The targets were seven for Jackson and Ward followed by Reagor and Hightower with four and JJAW getting the goose egg. Everyone but Ward (5-of-7) was under 50 percent for their catch rates with Wentz finishing 9-of-23 overall when looking toward his WRs, hardly the improvement Philadelphia needs after the disastrous 2019 season at the position.

"We are going to be smart with (Jackson)," said Pederson, "but we also know that he is an explosive receiver for us and we want to get him on the field as much as possible moving forward."

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM and every Monday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportsMap Radio. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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