Prisco: DeSean Jackson Is A Top 5 Free Agent

Pete Prisco of CBS sports ranked the top 50 players due to hit unrestricted free agency this year. Now, Prisco did not include guys that he is nearly 100% sure will get the franchise tag or resign. If he had, Drew Brees would have been the obvious #1 on the list. He also excluded Matt Forte and Calais Campbell from the list.

He ranks DeSean Jackson as his #5 free agent.

The ability should get him a huge contract. But the attitude might cut that down some. Even so, this kid is a game-changer. Those guys don't hit the market all the time. He turns 26 in December.

For one, I don't really think DeSean's "attitude" is much of an issue. For one, it's never been a problem before this year and his issues this year were related 100% to his contract. And this wasn't a Terrell Owens situation where he was upset about a $49 million contract. He was making about $600K. It doesn't excuse things perse, but it does provide a little justification and would lead me to believe that if he was well paid he would be the same good team guy and hard worker he always was.

I agree with Prisco on the age being a factor. DeSean is really only just entering what should be his prime years. And yes, he has game changing ability. But just how "huge" will this contract be? That's really what I'm not sure about.

There are several more complete WRs set to hit the market as well. Dwayne Bowe, Vincent Jackson, Marques Colston, Stevie Johnson, Wes Welker & Reggie Wayne. Age will affect the upside of contract numbers for guys like Welker, Wayne & Bowe... but the fact is that whoever signs those guys will likely be out of the market for a top WR. Plus, there's probably 5 WRs that will come off the board in the top 50 picks in the draft.

So the relative abundance of WRs in the market this year and Jackson's inconsistency will certainly hurt his value. But his age and real gamebreaking ability is obviously going to attract interest.

Given the fact that so many WRs will hit the market, tagging Jackson and trying to work out a deal based on what all those other guys get makes some sense for the Eagles. Particularly, I'd take a look at what Stevie Johnson gets. Production-wise, he's not that different than DeSean. His contract could provide a pretty good baseline for what DeSean is worth.

Certainly more than Larry Fitzgerald does.