Is DeSean Jackson actually a good fit for the Eagles?

The Philadelphia Eagles made a headline-grabbing move to open the 2019 league year when they traded for Buccaneers wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who was originally drafted by the Eagles in 2008. On the surface level, it’s a deal that made sense for both sides. Philadelphia needed more explosive playmakers on offense, while the Bucs needed to trade Jackson to alleviate cap space for the free agency period.

Jackson is a big-name player who had big-time moments with the Eagles in the six seasons he played for them from 2008-13. After leaving the Eagles, Jackson spent three seasons with Washington and then two seasons with Tampa Bay — all five of those seasons away from Philadelphia were up-and-down.

While the 32-year-old still has a lot to offer an NFL offense and it was a good idea for the Eagles to add weapons for a quarterback on a rookie deal, it might not be a perfect match for Philadelphia and Carson Wentz. Jackson can still take the top off of a defense, but he might not be entering the best situation for a player of his specific talents — again.

Jackson has been one of the most dangerous deep threats in the NFL since he entered the league in 2008. He thrives on getting open deep down the field and outracing defensive backs to the end zone. For his career, Jackson ranks 39th all-time among qualifying receivers at 17.4 yards per reception. Yet even with his proven track record, he never really jelled well with Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston.

Winston isn’t exactly one of the best deep throwers in the league, and it’s the main reason why he and Jackson couldn’t connect deep down the field. According to Sports Info Solutions, Winston had a passer rating of 66.6 on throws that traveled at least 20 yards in the air. That ranked 27th out of 37 passers with at least 15 attempts where the ball traveled 20 yards in the air.

Here’s an example of his shaky accuracy from the Buccaneers’ first game against the Falcons last season.

Jackson isn’t wide open, but a decent throw would still allow him to make a play on the ball. Instead, Winston sails the ball deep down the field where it was intercepted by Damontae Kazee. Jackson never had a chance to catch the ball considering Winston overthrew him by four or five yards.

Winston struggled to throw routes that typically develop down the field. On posts, deep crossers, and go routes, Winston had a passer of 75.8. That ranked 30th out of 37 passers that had at least 15 attempts on these types of routes.

Even with Winston’s issues throwing the deep ball, Jackson was able to have a productive season down the field — thanks to help of Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick had a passer rating of 108.1 on these deeper throws, which ranked sixth in the league out of the 37 passers with at least 15 attempts. He and Jackson were absolutely torching teams to start the season — including the Eagles. Over the first two weeks of the season, Fitzpatrick completed all nine of his attempts to Jackson for a ridiculous 275 yards and three touchdowns.

Fitzpatrick and Winston took turns taking starts throughout the season and Jackson’s production fell off. After torching the Eagles for 129 yards and a touchdown in Week 2, Jackson only had one more 100-yard game and one more touchdown in the final 10 games that he played. He only ended up catching two touchdowns from Winston over the 26 games he played in Tampa.

While getting away from Winston is likely a good move for Jackson as he enters the tail end of his career, the quarterback he’s going to might not be the best fit for him either.

Wentz didn’t exactly light it up on deep throws last season, either. On throws that traveled 20 or more yards in the air, Wentz actually had a worse passer rating than Winston. Wentz’s passer rating on those throws was 59.8, which ranked 30th out of the 37 quarterbacks with at least 15 throws that traveled 20 yards in the air.

Wentz has been a hot-and-cold deep thrower throughout his entire career so far. As a rookie in 2016, Wentz had a passer rating of 48.7 on passes that traveled 20 or more yards in the air. In 2017, that passer rating jumped all the way up 102.7 before falling down this year. It could be that there’s just an inherent randomness to being a good deep passer given the difficulty and precision of the plays, but there are some things on the field that Wentz can clean up to help him out.

It’s not the physical ability Wentz lacks. Like Winston, Wentz is prone to making some silly mistakes when throwing down the field. This interception from the Eagles’ game against the Jaguars is a perfect example. Jalen Ramsey doesn’t have any immediate threats in coverage, so he rotates towards the middle of the field where he can intercept Wentz — who doesn’t even see him.

Here’s another example from the Eagles’ regular-season game against the Saints. Wentz doesn’t see Marshon Lattimore undercutting the deep route before he picks it off. The ball was underthrown as well.

The caveat with Wentz’s numbers compared to Winston’s is that Winston was throwing to better receivers last year. Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson, and Chris Godwin are a bit more of a formidable trio (at least going deep) than Alshon Jeffery, Golden Tate, and Nelson Agholor.

Even with sporadic quarterback play, Jackson has proven he can still a formidable deep threat — he might be able to help correct some of the issues with Wentz’s deep ball as he makes his return to Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia is continuing its quest to surround its young, franchise quarterback with talent that will allow him to continue to grow into one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. On paper, it might not look like the best marriage of quarterback and receiver, but Jackson does give the Eagles a dynamic they didn’t have last year: speed, speed, and more speed.