More and more it’s looking as if the real problem with DeSean Jackson and the Eagles had to do with his relationship with head coach Chip Kelly. CBS Philadelphia is reporting that Jackson’s attitude – which is something that has followed him since his college years at Cal Berkley – was getting in the way of Kelly’s team first mentality. The report claims that teammates were happy to see Jackson gone, he’s cursed out Chip Kelly and was a general malcontent.
The timing of this report comes on the same day that Jackson is sitting down with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith to combat the rumor that he’s in a gang.
“You see little kids and how they cry and whine when they don’t get their way, that was D-Jax,” another source said. “I don’t think [Jackson] gave [Kelly] the respect he deserved. Kelly tried to reach [Jackson] plenty of times and [Jackson] tuned him out. Then you look at team functions, when everyone is out together at charity things or social stuff. He was the one missing. It was like he was in ‘D-Jax world’ and we just happened to be there.
“With Reid, [Jackson] tried pushing boundaries there, too, but he looked at Reid, I think, much differently than he looked at [Kelly]. Reid came in with an NFL pedigree. He was the guy that drafted [Jackson]. He was the one that called him on draft day and laid the law down right then: [Reid] wouldn’t tolerate any outside interference from anyone. Now you get this college guy [Kelly] and he’s not going to tell [Jackson] what to do. [Kelly] has a vision for this team—and he is a very old-school coach in a lot of ways. But there’s only so much [a coach] can take.”
The piece goes on to state that Kelly is a player’s coach and Jackson is now the Redskins headache. This scenario seems much more likely than the whole gang member one, simply because DeSean’s “ties” weren’t new. I made mention of this when the story first broke. It is curious that no teammate has spoken out for the Jaccpot CEO.