DeSean Jackson‘s Ravens visit has produced an agreement. The 14-year veteran wide receiver is signing with the team, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). It is a practice squad agreement, Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com notes.
Although Jackson said this offseason he was pondering retirement, he re-emerged recently indicating he was still on the market. The Ravens will be the deep threat’s sixth NFL team. At 35, Jackson will also become the NFL’s oldest active wideout.
The Ravens have No. 1 wideout Rashod Bateman recovering from a foot sprain, and while Devin Duvernay has shown strides as an auxiliary target this season, no other Baltimore receiver has totaled more than 80 yards through six games. Jackson will be expected to fill some of the void created by the trade of Marquise Brown.
Despite his age and recent injury trouble, Jackson has remained a target for teams. The Rams cut him last season, but teams pursued the veteran; that process led Jackson to Las Vegas. The former Pro Bowler made an impact for the playoff-bound Raiders, doing so after helping the Rams early in the season.
Albeit on only 20 receptions, Jackson averaged a career-high 22.7 yards per catch last season. He posted 100-yard games for both of his 2021 teams — a Week 3 explosion against the Bucs as a Ram and a Thanksgiving assist to the Raiders, helping Las Vegas to a last-second win over Dallas — and showed more durability than he had during his second Philadelphia stint by playing in 16 games and the Raiders’ wild-card tilt.
Jackson missed 24 games during his second Eagles stay, but the Rams still took a flier on him. The Ravens will follow suit and will have one of the most impactful deep targets in NFL history prepared to help their cause. Jackson’s three Pro Bowls all came during his first stint with the Eagles, which ended after the 2013 season, but he has five 1,000-yard seasons and four years as the NFL’s top yards-per-catch player. For his career, Jackson has 11,110 receiving yards — 36th all time.
This move follows the Ravens’ in-season pickup of Jason Pierre-Paul. JPP, who was signed to the Ravens’ active roster without a practice squad bridge period, cleared the 50-snap barrier in his first game as a Raven. D-Jax’s recent injury and usage history suggests OC Greg Roman will not deploy him as a full-timer alongside Bateman, but his addition figures to open up the field for he and Mark Andrews going forward.
Guess we will see what’s left in the ‘ol tank
What a joke. I suppose Bateman is going to be out much longer than anyone initially anticipated.
Jackson has nothing left in the tank and even when he did, he wasn’t exactly the most sure-handed receiver in the world. Team a slow, washed up, poor handed receiver with a widly erratic passer and I am sure this will work out well…
I think that Jackson’s best value will be in drawing defenders deep. Unless they try to force feed him the ball, Andrews, Duvernay, and possibly Oliver will all be higher priority targets in Bateman’s absence. With a receiver like Jackson, defenses have to commit at least one player to him on every down, lest they leave wide open for a damaging play due to negligence.
Maybe they once did in his prime. Now at age 35/36 he’s well past that and doesn’t command respect from anyone deep.
I mean, it may not be fear that motivates them, but the defense will have to assign at least one guy to cover him, and likely two. Even the least of receivers draw defenders on go routes and other deep routes. If they decide to just say “screw it” and leave him uncovered, Jackson will make the catch like anyone else. I agree that he likely doesn’t have game-breaking speed anymore, but he probably has enough to at least be a decoy over the top. Even if he doesn’t I doubt that any coordinator will leave him uncovered completely.
See, the problem with a decoy is that they actually have to be able to do something in order to work as a decoy. Having a guy just run deep all the time will not have any threat impact unless you use him and use him successfully. What’s one of the things Lamar is terrible at? Throwing the ball deep and outside the hashes.
They won’t need to cover Jackson any more than any other receiver going deep. He’s not that guy anymore.
Drawing defenders deep??? Bahahaha. Why because he is still trying to get to the huddle from kickoff??
what a joke org. sign all the washed up guys
What’s the reasoning for this. Is Bateman’s injury worse off than what is being reported?
Not a bad move, as I think most of us know that Jackson would likely be the third target at the highest in Baltimore. He’ll most be there I think to take defenders with him over the top and help Duvernay and Andrews get open underneath. The Ravens tried to use Andrews as a vertical threat several times this year, and while he’s a great player, they seem to want to restore that deep threat in the offense. The Jackson and Isabella moves both point to that fact. Jackson hopefully will be that player for them so they can use their best weapons underneath.
The only way he’s taking anyone deep these days is if he pulls up next to them with a golf cart and asks them if they want a ride.
He’s also racist, so there’s that.
So yeah, a great move……
I mean, who else are they going to sign? I didn’t say that this is going to turn L. Jackson into a pinpoint deep ball passer, or that D. Jackson is going to experience a career renaissance. Signing-wise, this is probably it as far as options go. I don’t expect Jackson to end up with even 500 yards.
But yes, no matter how bad he or Lamar is at deep routes, this gives the Ravens someone to run them. We’ll see how much it actually helps, but the Ravens really just want to throw it underneath. If they line D. Jackson up a few times on the outside and complete a few easy underneath passes as a result, the signing did what they wanted it to. The main reason we’re on this is because of who Jackson is. The Ravens did with Isabella and nobody said anything other than that it was a good move, and if we’re honest, I don’t think that we expect 500 yards from Isabella either (through no fault of Isabella’s own, because he’s likely a better deep threat than Jackson at this point in his career).
Baltimore wanted a veteran receiver too, because you take a look at their wideouts, and you see nobody who has significant time in the league. D. Jackson is a veteran, who is a deep ball runner. D. Jackson, despite his injury woes and lack of effectiveness compared to his early years, still managed a career high in yards per catch last year and posted a hundred yards in single games. It’s in the article. So he does not catch a variety of routes anymore, but clearly there is something on the field that he offers. I’m not sure who else is both a veteran and a deep runner and wanted a low level contract. So, no, this isn’t a game changer, but it is not a bad signing because it gives Baltimore what they wanted. As a G.M., I don’t know who else you sign for cheap right now. Whether they can properly use it is up to them.
Nobody was gushing or saying much about the Isabella move because Isabella isn’t much of a player. Everyone pretty much figured that to be a depth move and nothing more.
People are acting like Jacskon is some sort of ageless wonder.
This is a woeful signing from and on field and off the field standpoint. It continues to show that character doesn’t matter to the Ravens.
The character thing is a whole ‘nother discussion. To tell the truth, I doubt that teams would have much to sign in any sport if we held athletes to the same standard as the rest of us expect to be, but again, that’s another topic…
I don’t think that Jackson is ageless, or a wonder. We just seem to disagree as to whether he has any use on the field. I think that, given the circumstances, this fits what Baltimore wanted. It may not work, of course, but this is the type of player they wanted. And I do think that trying Isabella in that role might have been better to do first.
I agree that he is not as good as he was back in the day, but by no politics reasoning i would put Desean as far out on the left as i can by himself and throw screens to him all day long because no one is going to cover him. Something tells me he can get atleast 10 yards if not more before someone catches him. A touchdown 10 yards at a time is worth the same as a deep bomb. If they do start covering him you accomplished exactly what AK said above.
Are there better players out there to do this .. probably and maybe even on the roster there maybe but
Well, their receiving group may not have gotten any better, but it got older and more bigoted.
I hear Alshon Jeffery is available too
They would’ve been better off if they would have signed Beckham.
SMH!!
If Grandaddy Jackson can’t stay healthy or oxygenated enough to stay on the field, I say we can use him to replace EDC or Harbaugh!!
Why not trade some picks for Moore? If they’re serious about getting help, go get it! Don’t sign a guy who actually said retirement.
Looks like DeCosta found the perfect inducement to get Lamar to sign an extension…lol.
U guyz r nuts. This is excellent pickup. In this tight division race if he helps them get one more win it will be worth it. The dude has blazing quickness, enuff said. Very explosion and fun to watch. The Raven’s r at least 2 wins better him. Booooyah!