Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson revealed to Birds 24/7 that he was demoted during the early part of OTAs. Jackson stated that he was working with the second and third teams, rather than the first team like he presumed.
Eagles WR DeSean Jackson motivated by demotion from Chip Kelly
DeSean Jackson was briefly working with the second and third teams in OTAs, learning the hard way that Chip Kelly doesn’t have a depth chart.
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When Jackson went into coach Chip Kelly’s office to hear an explanation, Kelly told him that there was no depth chart and every position was up for competition.
From Birds 24/7:
“He just expects everyone to do things a certain way. He was asking everybody to do the same thing. For myself, I just had to really hear it from his mouth to get that rapport with him and be on the same page with him. When I went in there, he said he expects everybody to buy into the system and do everything the right way,”
Kelly is running what tight ends coach Ted Williams called a “musical chairs offense,“ where anyone can line up at any position. Jackson was not as up to speed as Kelly would’ve liked, thus the brief demotion. He admits that the team is doing things he hasn’t learned since college.
Since clearing the air with his coach, Jackson is back with the first team and motivated to produce in his new offense. “Now I’m with the right group and everything is good and there’s never been no problems. I just had to get a feel for [Kelly] and know what he wants and what he expects me to do”. Jackson is entering a critical year -- his contract jumps up to $10.25 million in 2014, which would be a prohibitive amount if he doesn’t return to form.
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