Are Philadelphia Eagles fans over booing DeSean Jackson?

Five years later, are Philadelphia Eagles fans finally forgiving towards DeSean Jackson for whatever he has done wrong?

2014 was a tough time to be a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. Not only was the team on a downward-spiral led by the egomaniac that is Chip Kelly. But multiple former faces of the franchise became public enemies towards the Eagles fan base over time. Perhaps, the most hated former Eagles player in recent memory might’ve been the wide receiver, DeSean Jackson.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane for a second. The 2008 second-round pick joined the squad under Andy Reid. Eventually, he was forced to play under Chip Kelly, who clearly had a bias towards Jackson. Now, let’s not get it twisted. Jackson has been known to be a bit cancerous in the locker room at times, but he couldn’t have been much worse than the head coach himself.

Some bogus rumors eventually led to Jackson being suddenly cut by the Eagles during the offseason in 2014. So, keep in mind that Jackson was forced out of Philly. It’s not like he requested a trade or release. And even after Jackson eventually signed on with the Washington Redskins, he didn’t really have anything negative to say about Philly fans themselves. But still, whenever Jackson returned to Lincoln Financial Field, Eagles fans let him have it as the crowd roared with boo’s everytime he would touch the ball.

This went on twice a year for the next three seasons until Jackson packed up and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, for the first time since his departure, Jackson (might?) will face the team that drafted him once again in his home stadium that is anticipated to be packed by Eagles fans. Out of curiosity, I decided to take to Twitter to find out how Eagles fans feel about Jackson being a public enemy of the Eagles fan base still to this day.

The Results:

Majority of the fans out there on Twitter seem to have forgiven Jackson over time. Roughly about 70-percent of the voters have decided that it is unnecessary to boo DeSean Jackson as an Eagles fan nowadays. The public consensus feels like the booing was less personal at the time. It was more about the fact that Jackson was playing for a division rival. Here are a few opinions from some of the outspoken Eagles fans out there regarding the topic.

"“Nah, it made sense to boo him because he went to a rival. Now with Tampa, give him his ovation for the fun years while he was here.”– Zack Hayes (@thezhayes)“He went to the Skins to get back at Chip, atleast that’s the way I saw it. DeSean, shady and Vick was when I became an Eagles fan.”– R. (@Ralph26er)“Never booed him in the first place. Not sure why we would”– PossiblyKevinDurant (@BCrum717)“Nah bro. I lowkey miss him and appreciate everything he did. Now that he’s off the redskins I now realize how exciting he is to watch even at the end of his career”– Travis Politakis (@travispolitakis)"

It’s quite evident that most Eagles fans do not have any hard feelings towards Jackson anymore, which is great. Although it didn’t exactly make sense to boo the man in the first place, it is a good look for Eagles fans as they seem to appreciate Jackson’s Eagles legacy a lot more nowadays. After all, the guy will most likely retire an Eagles receiver when it’s all said and done.

With a Vince Lombardi trophy finally sitting in Philadelphia, it seems like the bitterness from the Chip Kelly era has finally worn off. At this point, it feels like all of those moves to get rid of franchise superstars can be forgiven. Okay, maybe I’m pushing it. But still, it is very satisfying to see the bitterness towards former players go out the window.