DeSean Jackson To the Patriots is a risk reward signing.

The Eagles released 34 year old pass catcher Desean Jackson. Jackson has shown signs that he has the ability to still play. The problem is that over the last 3 seasons, Jackson has only played 20 games.

In 2020 Jackson caught 14 of 26 balls for 236 yards and a touchdown. Jackson only played in 5 games in 2020. So that's roughly 5 targets a game. Jackson has a target separation rate of 1.50 and a true catch rate of 77.8%. It's not bad seeing 69.2% of his targets were catchable.

Jackson's age and health are definitely risks but Jackson when healthy can be a viable number 2 or 3 option. He's good for 50 catches and 750 yards still based off his 2020 production. His production really hasn't slipped since 2018 when he caught 41 passes for 774 yards and 4 touchdowns.

The other thing that Jackson brings is experience and leadership. Young pass catchers can use his knowledge to improve, while quarterbacks can rely on his experience to bail them out. 

Any team considering signing Jackson has to weight the number of games he's expected to play (6) to the production he's gonna bring. Jackson was a $9 million a year player when healthy but he's only showing over his last 3 seasons, that he's only worth a third of that. 

The Patriots could lure him in with an incentive based contract with his guaranteed signing money based off the number of games he's eligible to play. He's worth a two year $7 million dollar contract plus incentives. Any team to pay him more than $4 million a year straight out is taking a huge risk.

Jackson is at a point of his career where he needs to figure out if the pay is worth the risk to his health. He could pull a Reggie Wayne or Eric Decker. Any team that signs him needs to protect themselves with a clause in case he retires before the season starts.