DeSean Jackson: Reid’s Never Benched Player for Missing a Meeting

November 16, 2011 6:00 am | By: Ryan Messick

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson told NFL Network's Michael Irvin that he's seen teammates miss meetings in the past and still play in the following game.

Despite apologizing to his teammates on Monday, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson seemingly expressed frustration with Andy Reid’s decision to bench him for being late to a meeting in an interview with NFL Network’s Michael Irvin. Only snippets of the interview with the Eagles’ two-time Pro Bowler were released, with more to come on Thursday evening and the full interview airing Sunday morning.

Jackson told Irvin that he arrived at 8:53 a.m. for the Eagles’ 8:30 a.m. special teams meeting and acknowledged that he was late, but said he was there for the regular team meeting at 9:00 a.m. Reid suspended Jackson for the Eagles game against the Cardinals, which Philadelphia lost 21-17.

“Honestly, I never, I’ve never seen Coach Reid do anything like that,” Jackson said. “Like, I’ve never seen him bench anybody for, like, missing a meeting.”

When Jackson was asked by Irvin if he thought the benching had to do with his behavior beyond just missing the meeting, the receiver said no.

“I don’t think so, being late to a meeting is, you know, unacceptable, of course and I understand that,” said Jackson “But never been a problem, never been a distraction, I just, you know, come to work and do my thing.”

Jackson is in the final year of his first contract and is earning the league minimum of $600,000 this year. When you factor in bonuses and average out his earnings over the full length of the four-year contract, the Eagles paid Jackson an average of $769,960 a season, according to CSNPhilly.com’s Reuben Frank.

The Eagles have admitted in the past that Jackson deserved a new deal, first citing the potential lockout and uncertainty with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement being negotiated as a reason they had to wait to give the star receiver an extension.

After the lockout ended, Jackson originally held out from training camp and expressed his desire to have a new contract negotiated. Jackson finally showed up without an extension due to the league deadline to earn a year of service, which was necessary for him to have free agent status at the end of the 2011 season. Upon arriving, Jackson didn’t shy away from his wish to get a raise and a long-term contract from the Eagles.

“I think that’s obvious,” Jackson said. “As far as how we go about getting it done is the biggest thing. I just really have to take advantage of what I have to do and stay out of trouble and just do all the positive things and stay away from all of the negative talks and people saying whatever and all I can do is control what I can control.”

So Jackson talked about football, being a good teammate and putting in the hard work necessary to win. Still, no acceptable contract offer arrived.

Jackson’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, made his arrival in an attention-grabbing way. Rosenhaus, who infamously represented Terrell Owens during his spat with the Eagles front office, showed up at Lehigh University and watched training camp from the fan section, drawing the ire of Eagles security guards and rejecting interview requests from the media. He didn’t appear in the public eye again, and things seemingly settled down.

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Jackson caught 29 passes for 503 yards and a pair touchdowns over the first eight games of the season, but was averaging just 17.3 yards per catch, down 23 percent from last season. Jackson at times has appeared reluctant to go over the middle, and on September 29, said his top goal this season was to maintain his health.

“That’s the number one priority is to stay healthy,” Jackson said. “I wouldn’t be able to play the game if I wasn’t healthy. In my book, that’s the number one priority. Winning is next in that category. As long as I’m healthy and we’re winning, regardless of my numbers, I think I’ll be very happy.”

CONTINUE READING: HOW UNHAPPY IS JACKSON?

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