SEATTLE - This isn't Pop Warner.
This isn't JV football, or high school or even college.
This is business.
DeSean Jackson is an asset. He is an underperforming asset, and, at $600,000, embarrassingly underpaid.
He also is selfish and churlish. Isolationist. Cowardly.
So what?
Pay him.
This is the NFL.
There is no lesson to be taught by staring down an immature nonprofessional. He is too valuable. He is irreplaceable.
Jackson wants a long-term, big-money contract extension. He has clearly displayed that he will not play to his potential unless he gets an extension to his liking - not a franchise tag, as the Eagles can issue after this season to tie him to them.
Jackson's most recent sin against sportsmanship came last night. According to an NFL Network report, the network that aired last night's 31-14 loss to the Seaheawks, Jackson refused to speak with teammates during the game.
Jackson abruptly dismissed that report. Any hint of dissension between him and his teammates clearly bothered him - angered him, really, for the first time.
"I'm not gonna sit here and listen to those questions," he fumed. "My teammates know what it is . . . God . . . Ya'll need to get out of my face before I go off. Ya'll crazy."
He may be right.
We may be crazy.
An Eagles representative insisted that the report was incorrect; maliciously so, in fact.
Jackson also was seen laughing with Seahawks star running back Marshawn Lynch near the sideline while Eagles teammate Nnamdi Asomugha lay on the ground . . . with a terrifying head and neck injury.
Unconscionable, by Lynch; worse, by Jackson.
Unintentional, surely, by both.
So what?
Pay him anyway.
Jackson is the Eagles' best defense against the Eagles' lack of defense. He is their most potent weapon. He makes LeSean McCoy a lethal weapon. He makes Michael Vick a star.
Jackson even makes Vince Young competent.
But when Jackson does not play hard, or well, or at all, they do not score.
Period.
He haunts the dreams of defensive coaches. He draws two defenders whenever the Eagles line up wide. He deserves them.
He is the most gifted receiver in team history. Not the best; the most gifted.
Pay him.
He proved the team needs him more than he needs it.
He held out in training camp . . . and, when he showed up, the team was 20 percent better. The minute he stepped on the field, it was that much better.
