The DeSean Jackson Myth

What do Antonio Brown, Nate Washington, David Nelson, Early Doucet, Eric Decker, and Jabar Gaffney all have in common?

Each and every one of them has more catches than DeSean Jackson.

How about Jake Ballard, Torrey Smith, Josh Cribbs, Joel Dreessen, Jason Hill, and Delanie Walker?

Those luminaries all have more touchdowns than DeSean Jackson.

For some reason, DeSean Jackson has fooled NFL fans. He's fooled you into thinking he is something far greater than he has ever been. The idea that DeSean Jackson is a number one wide receiver in the NFL is laughable. He has never caught more than 62 passes in a season. To put that in a game-to-game perspective, he has averaged less than four catches per game since being drafted in 2008. He has never had double digit touchdowns in a season, with his total on the verge of dropping for the third straight year.

A good number of Eagles fans talked all summer about how the team had to pay DeSean Jackson. They couldn't believe the Eagles wouldn't reward a guy that was a such a dynamic player. His game breaking speed was mentioned. His chemistry with Mike Vick was cited. His punt return to cap an epic comeback in the Meadowlands was talked about over and over.

DeSean supporters neglected to mention his flaws-- size, route running, attitude -- or look at the reasons why an organization that has always found it prudent to re-sign it's young stars decided to make him wait out another year. Shockingly, they wanted to see him prove that he was more than a gadget player.

2011 has given us no reason to believe he is more than that. Wes Welker is undersized, yet finds a way to get the ball whenever his team needs to move the sticks. Teams triple cover Calvin Johnson, yet he finds a way to score two touchdowns a game. Steve Smith is the only deep option Cam Newton has in Carolina, yet he is approaching 1,000 yards halfway through a season. I'm tired of hearing about teams shadowing coverage on him and playing safeties deep. I'm tired of hearing that Andy and Marty need to get him more involved in the offense. Stars get themselves involved. Mike Vick doesn't have an agenda out there. He's going to throw to the open man before his head his knocked off by opposing defenses.

Jackson's punt return fumble on Monday Night Football was the icing on an extremely disappointing first half for both DeSean and the Eagles. At some point the talk will end about the team turning it around and turning into the team we thought they were. The Super Bowl team that took the field in Lehigh was probably a myth, a fabrication, a lie.

So was the wide receiver that was pegged to help lead them there.