Cal Football: DeSean Jackson Has A Lot to Prove, On and Off the Field

Former Cal wideout hopes to rehabilitate his image and show he's healthy

Photo by Jerry Habraken, USA Today

It’s a big year for DeSean Jackson, the Philadelphia Eagles' 33-year-old wideout from  Cal.

He’s got to keep his body heathy.

And he’s got to keep his mouth shut . . . at least on issues where he’s uninformed.

Jackson was promising big things this week in his first dealing with the media since making anti-semitic remarks via social media over the Fourth of July weekend.

Back from a core muscle injury that limited him to one fully healthy game last fall and ultimately forced him to undergo season-ending surgery, Jackson says he is ready to prove doubters wrong.

“Thirty-three years old and in the league 13 years, the expectation level might drop,” Jackson said Wednesday. “But the one game I did play in last year, I think whoever was watching that game knows what DeSean Jackson can still do.”

That was the Eagles’ 2019 opener vs. Washington in which Jackson caught eight passes for 154 yards and became the first player in 25 years to catch two touchdowns of at least 50 yards on opening day.

“The naysayers, the doubters, the non-believers, I live for that, man. My whole career, I’ve always been against the odds, so I look forward to this year,” said Jackson, a three-time Pro Bowl selection.

“But I ain’t going to speak too much, I’m just going to show it. I’m going to show it on Sunday. I know what I’m capable of doing. I’ve got a lot of juice left in me. So for everybody sitting at home, get your popcorn ready and get ready for Sunday.”

The biggest challenge Jackson may face is living up to his own promise: “I ain’t going to speak too much.”

That would have been the wiser course of action two months ago. In a July 6 post on his Instagram page, he got himself into hot water the he used a fake quote from Adolf Hitler referring to Black people as “the real children of Israel,” and wrote that “the Jews will blackmail America, they will extort America, their plan for World Domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were.”

It didn’t take long for Jackson to be realize his ignorant remarks offended a lot of people, including Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, who is Jewish.

Jackson apologized, again through social media. Later, he spoke with a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor and reportedly accepted his invitation to visit the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland. He also apparently made plans with New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman to visit the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.

Lurie talked with Jackson via a Zoom call on Aug. 30, according to Ed Kracz of Eagles Maven, and was asked this week about Jackson.

“I thought the social media posts were disgusting and appalling,” said Lurie, who reprimanded and fined Jackson after the incident. “I don't think anybody can take it any other way. You're talking about a leader of a genocide.”

On Wednesday, Jackson spent the opening moments of his session with reporters talking about how he has addressed the situation.

“Over the past few months, I had to reflect on life. People make mistakes in life, and that was a mistake I made. I had to own up to it as a man, which I did,” he said. “But I think I’m taking the proper steps and educating myself and learning from something I didn’t really know too much about.”

Asked if there were specific examples of additional things he’s done, Jackson was vague. “Honestly, man, numerous things.”

Given that he’s had two months to figure out how he would publicly address a question he knew was coming, Jackson offered no convincing insights, nothing new.

Everyone makes mistakes and Jackson’s image has paid a stiff price for his misstep.

Now he has to show the lesson he says he has learned will stick.

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*** SI executive director Mark Bechtel looks back 50 years to the historic first broadcast of Monday Night Football

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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