By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor
Did DeSean Jackson come back too soon?
That is a question that may have no sure answer. What we do know are that reports from John Clarck of NBC Sports Philly say, “he tore the abdominal muscle completely off the bone yesterday, worse than his injury in week two.”
DeSean will have surgery on the injury and Ian Rappoport of the NFL Network Reports his season may be over.
#Eagles WR DeSean Jackson is having surgery to repair a core muscle injury tomorrow, sources say. Based on the timing, it appears unlikely he’ll play again this season.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 4, 2019
Some sources say four to six weeks, but his season likely being over is being more widely reported (there are just seven more games and eight weeks left in the regular season).
The decision to go without surgery after week two was now obviously a very poor one, but whether the training staff suggested it and Jackson refused or the training staff suggested he not have surgery may never be known.
The team did release a statement shortly after it was announced that Jackson would have surgery.
Statement from the Philadelphia Eagles regarding WR DeSean Jackson pic.twitter.com/iJjY11wf6a
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 4, 2019
Jackson has always suffered from injuries, but none that were ever this serious. He had never played fewer than 10 games in a season before this year. If he were to be done for the year, he would have “played” just three this season with two of those being less than 10 snaps in a game.
So far, he has just 159 yards on the year. That may be his total for the season.
Jackson will make just under $9,000,000 for that this year and is set to make the same next year. They would have a $12.5 million cap hit next year if they were to release him, so that’s not going to happen.
The Eagles struggling receiver group would now be left with just Mack Hollins, whose only contributions to the team are sending them backwards with penalties, and JJ Arcega-Whiteside, the second-round pick of the game-losing drop.
The Eagles must make a move to address the situation and while I covered a few options a couple weeks ago, there are new names to be added to the list that the team could take a flier on, including Jordan Matthews and Donte Moncrief.
Update: Donte Moncrief has been claimed off waivers by the Panthers and is no longer available.