If you could both get in the car, and just drive off a cliff, that would be super.
DeSean Jackson’s appearance on The T.Ocho Show is not something for Eagles fans to get excited about. The show, starring Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, features weekly interviews with NFL players and analysts alike. Jackson’s taped interview will appear on Versus tonight at 10:00pm, and the show’s site includes a 45-second preview where Jackson basically calls for a contract that will set the bar for wide receivers. The preview reads “DeSean Jackson is ready to get paid”, and you can see it here.
The clip shows Jackson talking about his contract. He mentions the 30% rule, the expiring CBA, and the possibility of a looming lockout. The 30% rule, which applies to Jackson at the moment, says that a player cannot earn a salary in 2011 that is more than 30% greater than his 2010 salary. That’s an issue for a player like Jackson, whose play on the field is deserving of a handsome and lucrative new contract. The lockout, on the other hand, is an issue for every NFL player.
Not so bad yet, right? Wait…
Jackson continues by telling Owens that “I’m gonna set the bar high for you, man. I’ma try to get the most I can and I’ma set it high for you and I’ma set it high for everybody else, too, so it’s a good look, man.” He finishes by saying, “They gonna have to do something, man, because I’m out there… the way I’m putting it in, man? Hey, somethin’ gotta happen baby.”
Does Jackson realizes that the man he is saying this to is the very person whose mouth has cost him long-term contract extensions? Owens’s mouth has gotten him suspended by the Eagles after seven games. He was also deactivated for the remainder of that season and released at season’s end. He received a five-year deal from Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys in 2006. It only lasted three years as on and off-the-field problems were instigated by T.O.’s mouth and attitude. Now, Owens has signed one-year contracts two years in a row and will likely being doing the same until the end of his career.
Owens is second all-time in receiving yards and tied for second in receiving touchdowns. He may be one of the most talented receivers of all-time, but his attitude and demeanor will always haunt him all the way to the Hall of Fame and beyond. It would be a shame for DeSean Jackson to head down a similar road.
The Eagles are 9-4 with three games to go. Two of them are division games and it’s not a lock that the Eagles will win the division or even clinch a playoff spot, no matter how good it looks right now. Jackson’s focus should be on that, not a new contract. Maybe he should be taking a page out of the book of his quarterback, Michael Vick. (I never thought I would be saying that.)
I’m sure something will be said to Jackson, either by Andy Reid or a select-few teammates. However it comes, the point needs to get across. Jackson’s appearance on T.Ocho feels like the kid you know who has so much potential, but hangs out with the wrong crowd. Andy Reid mentioned that Jackson’s showboating in the Eagles-Cowboys game Sunday night was the “little bit of Hollywood left in him.”
There may be more left in him than we think. And while small antics like Sunday night can be taken with a grain of salt, Jackson’s most-recent comments cannot be. If they are, we may have another T.O. on our hands…
…and I’m not talking in terms of talent.
