Philadelphia Eagles DeSean Jackson still among NFL’s best deep threats

A quick glance around the web should teach you that, for whatever reason, DeSean Jackson doesn’t appear to be aging.

The 32 NFL teams may not like the idea of appearing on HBO’s Hard Knocks franchise, but it can be wildly entertaining for fans. Remember that season the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were featured? Former and, now, current Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson was sitting there discussing how the warm weather made the legs feel younger.

Fast forward, and he’s traded the humidity of Tampa for the familiar surroundings of the ‘City of Brotherly Love’. For ‘D Jax’, his professional football career began in Philly, but after stops in D.C. and Florida, Philly brought him back on March 13th.

The move sparked a little nostalgia, but now, with a few highlight clips posted during OTAs, something’s dawned on everyone.

This might be one of those moves that catapults Philly’s offense to another level.

Take a look around the web, and you see stories by Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philly detailing young DBs being star struck. You also see Pro Football Focus labeling him as the standard bearer for deep threats in the NFL.

Here’s some of what they said:

"Jackson returns to Philadelphia where he did a lot of his early damage on deep threats in his career, returning as the NFL’s leader in deep receiving yards over the past 10 seasons. He leads the league not only by a handsome margin in deep receiving yards but also leads the entire cast of WRs in receptions, yards after the catch, touchdowns, explosive plays all while averaging the second-highest yards per reception (40.0) among receivers with at least 100 deep targets over the past 10 years."

Here’s more:

"Jackson, even at this stage of his career, has speed to burn and an incredible burst when necessary while possessing the skills to locate, navigate to and track the ball while keeping his top-end speed."

If you’re hanging out on social media, you might come across ‘D Jax’ there too. Recently, he was mentioned among the candidates of being one of the fastest guys in the NFL:

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByI5HVIliGy/?utm_source=ig_embed

Wait. This guy is 32 years old right? Who knows what the secret is. Maybe it’s an insane workout plan. Maybe it’s his diet. Maybe he the fountain of youth does exist, and he found it.

Whatever the case, here’s what we know. Philly’s offense has a legitimate deep threat, and big plays down the field should be coming. There’s been quite a few critics who have criticized Jackson’s re-addition.

They’ve asked about the possibility that he may not be the same guy Philly fans got to know between 2008 and 2013. Maybe  we should start asking another question. What if he’s exactly that guy?