Last week the Philadelphia Eagles released their Pro Bowl wide receiver DeSean Jackson after rumors speculated that Jackson had ‘ties’ to a Los Angeles gang. Jackson’s the free agent didn’t last long as he signed a 3-year, $24 million dollar deal with the division rival, Washington Redskins last night.
Many people throughout the week have chimed their opinion on the troubled wide out including former and current players. One player in particular that came out in strong defense of Jackson was All-Pro Stanford graduate, Richard Sherman. Sherman tweeted this picture of him and DeSean Jackson as kids on a little league baseball team in Los Angeles:
Sherman then took to his column on the MMQB to voice his opinion on DeSean Jackson and how it could relate to other ‘distractions’ around the NFL.
“I’m not going to tell you that DeSean Jackson isn’t in a gang, because I can’t say unequivocally that he isn’t. I can’t tell you whether his friends have done the things police have accused them of doing, because I wasn’t there. I can’t tell you what DeSean does with his time, because we play football on opposite ends of the country. I can only tell you that I believe him to be a good person, and if you think, say or write otherwise without knowing the man, you’re in the wrong.” – Richard Sherman on MMQB
Sherman talked about players coming from inner cities and having rough childhoods who, even though became successful based off their talent didn’t cut ties with the friends they had when they weren’t playing professional football. Later in the blog, Sherman took a shot at the Philadelphia Eagles, who in the case of Riley Cooper, took a different approach and also Colts owner Jim Irsay, who was recently arrested for DUI:
This off season they re-signed a player who was caught on video screaming, “I will fight every n—– here.” He was representing the Philadelphia Eagles when he said it, because, of course, everything we do is reflective of the organization. But what did they do to Riley Cooper, who, if he’s not a racist, at least has “ties” to racist activity? They fined him and sent him to counseling. No suspension necessary for Cooper and no punishment from the NFL, despite its new interest in policing our use of the N-word on the field. Riley instead got a few days off from training camp and a nice contract in the off season, too. – Richard Sherman on MMQB
Commit certain crimes in this league and be a certain color, and you get help, not scorn. Look at the way many in the media wrote about Jim Irsay after his DUI arrest. Nobody suggested the Colts owner had “ties” to drug trafficking, even though he was caught driving with controlled substances (prescription pills) and $29,000 in cash to do who-knows-what with. Instead, poor millionaire Mr. Irsay needs help, some wrote. – Richard Sherman on MMQB
