:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65568939/1173255235.jpg.0.jpg)
Doug Pederson offered some encouraging news when he revealed that DeSean Jackson will return to Philadelphia Eagles practice this week. The team desperately needs their deep threat back on the field.
The bad news, however, is that Jackson isn’t expected to be 100% when he returns ... whenever that even is.
I'm told that whenever Desean Jackson returns to the playing field...,he may have to deal with nagging pain of his abdomen injury for the rest of the season.
— Derrick Gunn (@RealDGunnNBCS) October 28, 2019
Doug Pederson acknowledged this sentiment earlier this month.
“Nobody is ever 100%. Again, with the type of injury that he has, and being a track guy, a speed guy, it affects you. It makes a difference. Is he going to be 100% when he comes back? Probably not. Is he going to feel better? Yeah, he’ll feel better and be able to put it behind him and focus on football.”
Sure, every football player has to deal with nagging pain. But this seems like an especially troublesome injury relative to more common ailments that NFL players are dealing with.
Jackson hasn’t suited up since Week 2, when he only managed to play 11 snaps before leaving the game. There was previously some optimism he would be able to return for the Eagles’ Week 7 tilt against the Dallas Cowboys but that clearly didn’t happen.
Perhaps Jackson will be able to play against the Chicago Bears this week since he’ll be back at practice ... but that feels far from certain.
And so the feeling here, as stated multiple times now, is that the Eagles can’t simply rely on Jackson returning to remedy their lack of explosive passing plays. Making a deal for, say, Robby Anderson prior to the NFL trade deadline would fill a big need. And in the event that the Eagles acquire Anderson AND Jackson comes back better than expected, is it really such a bad thing to have two legitimate deep threats?
The clock is ticking for Howie Roseman. If he doesn’t make a move before Tuesday’s 4:00 PM deadline, the Eagles could be counting on a less than 100% Jackson to be their best vertical threat. Or, if Jackson can’t stay healthy, Nelson Agholor. And we’ve seen just how terribly that’s been working out.