For weeks we’ve heard stories of gang affiliations and legal issues possibly being the source of DeSean Jackson’s departure from Philadelphia.
Now CBS Philadelphia is painting a different picture via sources who say that Jackson was a total malcontent in the Eagles locker room and had worn out his welcome with everyone.
According to the report that quoted sources close to and around the team, including current and former players, Jackson was not very well liked by his teammates.
DJax allegedly was insubordinate, threw temper tantrums and reportedly cursed out Chip Kelly several times in front of the team. As one former Eagle said, Jackson “pushed the NFL rookie coach the way “a child would test boundaries,” and was more concerned with his rap label than he was about winning football games.”
Those sources also said that Jeremy Maclin likely wouldn’t have returned to the Eagles if Jackson had been retained.
“The fact is, [Jackson] was a ‘me-guy’ with an attitude problem and [Maclin] is the complete opposite, a team guy, a great character guy you go to war with,” said one source. “Funny how [Jackson] has this anti-bully thing and he thought he could push [Kelly] around; he found out otherwise. His being cut had nothing to do with the gang stuff. The team knew it. Everyone knew he had ‘ties.’ Those were his guys. That’s okay. What put him out was his selfishness. He can try and spin it all he wants how he’s ‘a team player.’ He’s not. I’ll put it this way, when it came out last Friday that [Jackson] was released, more than a few guys were happy it happened. They said ‘good riddance.’ He had no real connection with anyone.
“Yes, you can say he was the type that could catch three TDs in a loss—everyone would be down, but you had the impression he was happy, because he got his. It was all about him. A lot of guys thought that way about him. [Kelly] came in here with a plan to get this thing right, and the one major [obstacle] standing in his way was [Jackson]. If we were going to move forward as a team, he had to go. Think about it—did anyone come right out and back him publicly? Not one.”
The report in itself is explosive and paints Jackson as the worst teammate you could probably ever imagine. I’m sure their will questions about who leaked all this information and why now is it being released to the public.
“You see little kids and how they cry and whine when they don’t get their way, that was D-Jax,” another source said. “I don’t think [Jackson] gave [Kelly] the respect he deserved. Kelly tried to reach [Jackson] plenty of times and [Jackson] tuned him out. Then you look at team functions, when everyone is out together at charity things or social stuff. He was the one missing. It was like he was in ‘D-Jax world’ and we just happened to be there.
“With Reid, [Jackson] tried pushing boundaries there, too, but he looked at Reid, I think, much differently than he looked at [Kelly]. Reid came in with an NFL pedigree. He was the guy that drafted [Jackson]. He was the one that called him on draft day and laid the law down right then: [Reid] wouldn’t tolerate any outside interference from anyone. Now you get this college guy [Kelly] and he’s not going to tell [Jackson] what to do. [Kelly] has a vision for this team—and he is a very old-school coach in a lot of ways. But there’s only so much [a coach] can take.”
Furthermore, there are two different reports out about Jackson, yet the Eagles still haven’t released a statement on the matter. Chip Kelly apparently is the reason the Eagles still haven’t spoken.
“That’s [Kelly’s] way,” said one source. “It pisses me off that [Kelly] comes off looking like the bad guy here. It wasn’t just [Kelly] that wanted him gone. [Kelly] got a lot of feedback from guys that felt we were better off without [Jackson], too. [Kelly] is very much a player’s coach. His office is open to anyone. Now [Jackson] is the Redskins’ problem. We have something good going here and it’s going to get better without [Jackson]. He had to go.”
At the end of the day I believe this latest report over any rumors of gang affiliations or unsolved murders but it still seems like an orchestrated effort by someone to continue to make Jackson look bad just hours before he is to speak live with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN.
The report still doesn’t explain how they couldn’t find a trade partner for Jackson, yet Tampa Bay was able to unload Mike Williams to Buffalo for a 6th round pick. The out of the blue reports are probably the primary reason for the NFLPA deciding to investigate where all this negative information is coming from.