A Philadelphia Eagles Blog

Like Steve Smith and Brian Mitchell before him, Jackson started out returning punts after making considerable impact at that position in college.  But after Smith’s rookie Pro Bowl appearance, he quickly developed into a reliable receiver.  Mitchell, on the other hand, was outstanding as a running back even as he continued to break records as a return man.

Jackson, in comparison, though primarily a return man, has drawn even more attention for his receiving game.

More so, Steve Smith was a third round selection, while Brian Mitchell was picked in the fifth round.  Neither was thought to become some of the most elite players to ever play at that position.

Neither was DeSean Jackson.

Selected midway through the second round, he was though to be too small to ever be any good and was therefore not selected until Pick No. 49 rolled around and the Eagles decided to give him a chance.

What Jackson did not know at that time was that, at 5′10, he was actually taller than Smith.  And only one inch shorter than Mitchell.  His build is actually similar to the two of them — stocky but powerful.

So, is it safe to start comparing Jackson to some of the league’s best?  Perhaps the next Steve Smith or the multi-dimensional Brian Mitchell?

Not so fast, says QB Donovan McNabb.

“I don’t think it’s fair for people to look at it and say all of a sudden that he is going to be the next Steve Smith and compare him to some of the greats,” McNabb said. “You kind of have to give people an opportunity to get adjusted to this league.”

Yet in just a few short weeks, Jackson has already shown he has adjusted as a player.  McNabb has shown confidence in him by threading difficult passes through coverage when he is under pressure — most of which are taken by Jackson for extra yardage. He is also possibly the only player since T.O. that could get open through any pass coverage, despite his size.  Jerry Rice, his longtime mentor and friend, was already convinced that the rookie was the best route-runner he had ever seen.

McNabb, however, is still convinced that Jackson will have some work to do getting used to regular season press coverages and may even have trouble getting off the line.

Most teams we’ve played play coverages sometimes where they are not pressed and up on (receivers), and are pretty much vanilla.”

McNabb is wary of the hype surrounding Jackson, despite admitting that Jackson had  stepped up and had been playing phenomenally up to this point.

“I think he has done a great job. (But) I have been here a while, so I’ve seen when rookies come in and catch a couple balls and everyone gets excited,” McNabb said. “All of a sudden the question goes out — “What happened and why isn’t he still playing or making a lot of plays?’

Based on McNabb’s comment’s, it seems that even if Jackson will encounter early career troubles at wide receiver, it wouldn’t be out of his reach to soon become one of the NFL’s premier punt returners.  Besides as far as wide receivers go, doesn’t it typically take up to three years for the the new guys to find their niche in the league?

In any event, with three standout preseason games already in the books, the start of the regular season is right around the corner.

And with the season comes DeSean Jackson’s chance to prove that he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the best position players in NFL history.

If you had told Hank Baskett three years ago  that he was to be a future NFL starting wide receiver, he probably would have been surprised.  But if you had told him that he was going to be a No. 1, he might just have told you that you were out of your mind.

It’s players like Baskett who every year go undrafted, wide receivers like Shaheer McBride and Brandon “Bam” Childress, among others — who spend their short careers on the training squad or as backups.

But Hank Baskett was different.

Originally signed as as a rookie free agent by the Minnesota Vikings in 2006, the Eagles showed interest in him by trading their 2003 third round draft pick Bill McMullen to Minnesota for a chance to take a look at the extraordinary young talent.

Although Baskett did not make the draft because of his perceived lack of speed, his 6′4 frame and New Mexico high school record 7′-0″ vertical jump intrigued the Eagles.  Since then, he has been arguably the Eagles’ most physically imposing wide receiver.

His unimpressive college career, however, would not tell the story of his future NFL success.

Baskett’s four years at the University of New Mexico resulted in just one standout season, coming in 2005.  As a senior, Baskett posted  67 receptions for 1,071 yards and nine touchdowns on his way to earning All-Mountain West Conference honors.

Baskett took that momentum with him to the NFL, it seemed.

Baskett’s real chance at training camp came with the departure of former Eagles’ wide receiver Todd Pinkston.  Baskett showcased his talent, catching nearly everything that was thrown to him and soon becoming one of McNabb’s favorite targets.  He went on to post giant numbers during the preseason, building the hype already surrounding him.

Come regular season, however, and it was back to the bench for Baskett.  Despite Head Coach Andy Reid’s unsavory history of not playing rookies, Baskett did manage to contribute as a third wide receiver.  Although most Eagles fans were disappointed, Baskett did show that he was meant to be playing at the Pro level, and cemented in his role as an Eagle for years to come.

He finished the season strong, compiling 22 receptions for 464 yards (21.1 yards per catch) and two touchdowns — a record for Eagles’ rookies.  He also had two 100 yard games against the Cowboys and the Falcons, and was awarded Rookie of the Week honors in both instances.  Both his touchdown receptions in those games were of 85 yards or more, becoming just the second rookie in NFL history to have two or more such receptions in the same season.

His second NFL campaign was a disappointment, however.  His offensive playing time largely diminished due to new wideout Kevin Curtis’s presence, he also saw his YPA average drop down to a dismal 8.9 yards.  Curtis went on to have a record season, posting 77 receptions for 1,110 yards.

Additionally, barely midway through the season Hank Baskett’s role as third receiver was unofficially taken over by fourth round draft pick Jason Avant.  It looked like the feel-good story of 2006 was becoming a disaster of a year for Baskett in 2007.

However, with the arrival of 2008 training camp, Hank Baskett was back at it, catching balls consistently and showing great ability to get downfield.  In preseason he got barely no touches, as was expected, what with new arrival DeSean Jackson.

Things were going from bad to worse.  Hank Baskett no longer seemed to have a place on the team, and all the new arrivals seemed to spell his inevitable exit.  Everything pointed to the Eagles no longer needing him.

But Baskett wasn’t done yet.

By the third preseason game, injuries had forced the Eagles’ top two receivers out of commission.  Reggie Brown had a strained hamstring, and Kevin Curtis had a sports hernia that looked to keep him out until the second half of the 2008 season.

The news, delivered on a nondescript Wednesday morning, came as a shock to everyone.

“We’re going to mix it up with Hank (Baskett) and Greg (Lewis) over there,” Andy Reid stated at his daily press conference.  “You know, in place of Kevin.”

It was official.  Baskett, listed on the Eagles depth chart as their new No. 1, had made the long climb from undrafted to backup to starter.  And now, he was the Eagles’ starting wide receiver, the first guy, the offense’s go-to receiver.

It had been an unlikely climb for the unlikeliest of players.

As if the Eagles’ shoddy wide receiver corps wasn’t bad enough already, it just received (no pun intended) it’s biggest blow so far this off season with an injury to it’s No. 1, Kevin Curtis. Curtis, who sustained the sports hernia in last week’s game against the Panthers, tried to play through the rest of that game and may not have felt the effects of his injury until earlier this week.

Curtis is scheduled to have surgery later this week, and Andy Reid said there was no timetable for a return.

“We’re trying not to wait and do that whole thing,” Reid said. “We’re trying to get on it. We’ve identified (the hernia) and it’s problem, and we’re trying to get it taken care of.”

It is estimated by personnel close to the situation that he could miss up to half a season, depending on the severity of the injury.

While the Eagles’ Duce Staley and Sheldon Brown both played through it, L.J. Smith and Donovan McNabb were both seriously affected.

“They’re all different and we’ve found out over the years here that they all tear a little bit more than others and some are less than others. They’ve got to go in (for surgery),” Reid said.

The news came in the midst of yet another wide receiver buzz in Philly, this time involving Arizona’s disgruntled star receiver Anquan Boldin. Whatever the Eagles’ actual interest in Boldin is, the case for acquiring him was certainly lent some credibility by Curtis’s injury.

But earlier this morning, in response to a question about the Eagles’ current wide receiver corps, Reid told reporters that the Eagles are still not actively looking into upgrading the position, either by means of free agency or by trade. However, the Eagles have been known to look into these things nonetheless, as shown earlier in this off season with Randy Moss.

The news and Reggie Brown’s hamstring strain leaves the Eagles’ wideouts looking like this for Friday’s game against the Patriots:

No.1: Greg Lewis, Hank Baskett (Previously fourth and fifth WRs)

No. 2: DeSean Jackson (Drafted, most likely a second WR)

No. 3: Jason Avant (Still a third WR)

However, Donovan McNabb is likelier to throw to his latest favorite receiver if this is how things shape up, his No. 2 guy, DeSean Jackson.

The point is, if Andy Reid’s stance on the Eagles’ wide receiver don’t change soon, this is probably going to be the group of wide receivers entering the regular season (with the exception of Brown, who should be back sometime next week). The mere though of it is depressing.

So either get ready for another mediocre season, or you better be hoping that #10 DeSean Jackson can step up and live up to everything he’s hyped up to be.

To preface this article, I would like to note that certain teams usually have a characteristic way of dealing with potential problems or general business matters. I could mention many teams that have gone about potential problems the wrong way, including the Eagles during the 2005 season. The Bengals are also a good example (in my opinion, at least), but these things generally have to do with cap space and who’s in charge and not so much with the organization’s tendencies.

As for business matters, every team has a unique approach.

The teams that have won the Super Bowls are the teams who have done it right, like the Patriots in recent years — which obviously means that many teams have done it wrong. This, of course, includes the Eagles, who have never won a Super Bowl.

A particular example would be when they picked up big-play wide receiver Donte Stallworth just two and a half weeks before the start of the regular season. They made the playoffs and finished with a first place 10-6 record that season, and the Eagles had ample opportunity to give the young Stallworth a new, long contract at the beginning of the 2007 free agency.

Instead, they picked up Kevin Curtis and let Stallworth go. In many ways, Curtis showed he was the better wide receiver, showing good speed off the edge and a consistent ability to get open, as he became just the fourth wide receiver in Eagles history to have 75 or more receptions in a single season. Despite this, his measly 6 touchdowns clearly showed that he was not a No. 1 wide receiver and would play far better in the slot, similar to New England’s Wes Welker.

In Stallworth, however, they had a legitimate down field threat, as shown by his 19.1 yards-per-catch average. In fact, the only other wide receiver in recent Eagles history who was a serious threat in that category was Terrell Owens the year before. All in all, his ability to stretch the field was a huge boon to Donovan McNabb, who had great season in both years.

Imagine the Eagles now with both Stallworth and Curtis. Add Reggie Brown to the mix as your No. 2 guy, and you got solid one, two, and three guys.

Would I be writing this right now if that was the case? Definitely not. Would the exasperated Eagles fans be calling into the local sports radio stations every day to complain about the Eagles’ lack of a No. 1 receiver? Probably not.

But the point is, by adding Curtis and subtracting Stallworth, you’re back to where you started from. One step forward, and one step back.

And that’s how it’s been with the Eagles. Not only over this past decade, but over the long Eagles’ history in which they have never won a Super Bowl. Not one. And this is why. This type of management. This type of strategic absentmindedness, doing nothing when action is required. Going nowhere. Taking no legitimate steps in the right direction. There are no other ways to describe it.

I’m sure it’s not just the Eagles. It’s all the loyal football fan bases whose team always seems to be on the cusp of something great, and then…nothing.

And for the Eagles, it doesn’t end with the Curtis-Stallworth example. It hardly even begins there. The team’s unwillingness to believe that there is something, a piece of something important, missing and go out there and do something about it.

This article was supposed to be about Anquan Boldin, but I’m not even out of the preface yet. So I’ll just end here.

Just a shout-out to all the other tortured fans out there, of any sport, anywhere, who might be going through this kind of anguish. I wish you the best of luck.

And to the Eagles…well, in the grand scope of things, 8-8 isn’t so bad compared to, say, a 1-15 record. And besides, I could go on and say a million great things about Anquan Boldin or why the Eagles’ need him, but would that really matter? Isn’t it just stating the obvious?

Oh well.

According to several sources, Boldin’s agent Drew Rosenhaus (yes, Drew Rosenhaus) had already asked for a new contract shortly after fellow wideout Larry Fitzgerald signed a four-year, $40 million contract last spring. By the time training camp opened, however, Boldin still had no deal and blamed the Cardinals’ officials for not making good on promises of restructuring a contract extension he signed three years ago.

Under his current contract, Boldin is making $4 million a year, while Fitzgerald is making $10 million. Boldin was reportedly seeking a contract equal to or more than that of Fitzgerald’s.

Now, Boldin and Rosenhaus have made it clear that he no longer wants a new contract. He wants to leave the team.

Acording to sources, Boldin wants out because he believes that the team is not serious about renewing his contract and his unhappiness makes it hard for him to go to work every day. Rosenhaus has already asked the team to to trade Boldin.

However, the Cardinals, like the Bengals before them, are not only refusing to deal him, but are also still hopeful that a new contract will get done. According to several reports, their last offer was worth half the money of Fitzgerald’s, but that is way out of Boldin’s range.

Boldin’s displeasure with the team, however, is twofold. He is not only unhappy with his current contract situation and how the team has handled it, but he is also at odds with his coach, Ken Whisenhunt, who he says became too involved in contract negotiations.

“At this point we have no relationship, and I don’t see that changing,” Boldin told NFL Network on Monday. “It’s just gotten to a point where I think lines were crossed. If you ask me, coaches should be coaches, management should be management, and I don’t think those lines should be crossed. But when you cross those lines, you put yourself in position for things like this to happen.”

It is still entirely possible that Boldin will walk out of Cardinals’ training camp, although that would subject him to fines of $15,000 a day. The team, it seems, may not be prepared to go that route, and his doing so could eventually lead to a trade before the regular season starts.

It was a strange night to play football, much less to open the Eagles’ first preseason home game as the Eagles pulled off a convincing win over the Carolina Panthers Thursday. On a night involving a rare 58-minute rain delay, the backups won it for the Eagles as several key players put together a huge fourth quarter comeback victory.

Donovan McNabb came out to much anticipation and fanfare after completing 11-13 passes the week before in a 16-10 loss to Pittsburgh, but failed to put points on the board on either of the team’s first two drives, finishing 11-24. The lone Carolina touchdown came early, off a first quarter botched fake field goal shovel pass to Brent Celek that was intercepted by Richard Marshall for a 78-yard touchdown.

The second and third quarters had the Eagles’ offense silent, and only as the crowd started dwindling at Lincoln Financial field early in the fourth quarter did the Eagles start to answer back in face of a 13-0 deficit.

After a screen pass to Tony Hunt yielded a 9-yard run on third down and 1, Kevin Kolb connected with Greg Lewis for a 33-yard touchdown pass with less than seven minutes left in the game. Two possessions and one field goal later, Tony Hunt took a hand off an unexpected 51 yards for a touchdown.

The Panthers, hoping to answer back, were given the ball with a little under two minutes left but failed to come up with a touchdown, despite driving to their own 16 yard line. A tip by second-string safety Quintin Demps resulted in an interception by linebacker Justin Roland, who promptly raced 84 yards down the sidelines for a touchdown that cemented in the Eagles win.

Final: Eagles 24, Panthers 13