Maybe DeSean Jackson Is Just A Streaky Receiver?

There's been a lot of theories floated lately about why DeSean Jackson seems to have gone cold as of late. Some have suggested he's not on the same page as Michael Vick, is it maybe problems with the coach? The latest explanation seems to be Jeff McLane's anonymous source who says he's got so much pressure on him trying to earn a new contract it's hurting his play. McLane also says he's still suffering effects from the concussion he suffered against Atlanta.

Who knows, maybe all of that is true in some ways. He's at the point in an NFL players' career where he has the chance to win the lottery and it may be his only shot. He's playing for contract and has already suffered a couple concussion scares. That's gotta weigh on the kid.

But what if the explanation isn't quite as psychological? What if the reason DeSean Jackson hasn't had big games the past few weeks is just because he's streaky?

Haven't we seen this before? Look at his game by game performances this season after the jump.

So if his problem is that he's distracted by his contract situation, what happened in weeks 2, 3, 9, & 10 when he had big games? He was off to a nice start against Atlanta before he got hurt, so we know the contract was no issue there. So is he only intermittently distracted? Some weeks Drew Rosenhaus texts him to pad his stats and he starts pressing but other weeks he's fine?

It's just not this year. He's been streaky in his first two years as well. Granted, he had more monster games last year(he also wasn't injured for two games) but he still had weeks where he'd disappear.

Look at 2009. He starts off the season with two dud games where he catches 5 passes for 24 yards. The next two weeks he catches 10 passes for 250 yards. In week 5 he catches just one pass. Then he has a 6 catch 149 yard performance at Oakland in week 6. He then catches 6 passes total in weeks 7-9. In weeks 10 & 11 he goes for 16 catches and 198 yards. Week 12, two catches. Weeks 14 & 15 it's 12 catches for 318 yards. Weeks 16 & 17 he catches 7 passes for 80 yards.

Streaky.

His rookie year wasn't entirely dissimilar although his highs were not nearly as high. He had a bunch of 5 catch, 50 yard type games in his rookie year.

So while I'm not going to deny that his contract weighs on his mind. After all, how could it not? I'm putting it out there that even if he signs a big new deal tomorrow... there's still a chance that he's going to be a feast or famine type player. He's going to have weeks where he dominates and weeks where he disappears. That's what he's done so far in his career... Just maybe, he's never going to be the Roddy White or Andre Johnson type WR that you can peg for a baseline of 6 catches for 60 yards every single game.