Buccaneers: Five Reasons the DeSean Jackson Signing is a Great Move

Here are five reasons why the signing of DeSean Jackson is a great move for the Buccaneers.

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The Buccaneers made quite the splash, didn’t they? That’s the way to start off free agency with a bang. Jameis Winston wanted him, you fans wanted him, and now DeSean Jackson is a member of the Bucs.

DeSean Jackson, the top wide receiver on the free agent market, joins Jameis Winston and Mike Evans. Jason Licht has fired a shot heard around the NFC South. That shot tells everyone that 9-7 was not good enough, and the Bucs are here to compete.

Licht means business and that is bad news for the rest of the league. It’s good news for Bucs Nation, however.

While you all enjoy the moment, take note of a very important fact. Not only was Jackson the best talent available on the market, he is also the perfect player to complement the Bucs system.

Here are five reasons why this move is nothing short of spectacular.

Gas in the Tank

Often times when a player like this is signed after a long career in other places, they tend to slow down. Jackson is hitting that milestone in a football player’s life, age 30, that tends to mark that trend. It may be a bit later for wide receivers than other positions, but 30 is a fair approximation of when the skills begin to decline.

Jackson does not follow that rule. Last year, he broke back into the 1,000 yard club with 1,005 yards receiving on 56 catches. He also led the league in average yards per catch for the third time in his career (17.9 yards per catch). That continues his career trend where whenever he plays at least 15 games, he has posted a minimum of 912 receiving yards. When DeSean Jackson is healthy, he makes plays. These are facts that are not in dispute.

Of course, there is always concern about speed. Again, that doesn’t apply for Jackson. As Conor Orr noted on NFL.com, Jackson’s top-end speed was faster in 2016 than it was in 2015 per “Next-Gen” stats. So it’s not as if this player has shown any signs to this point of being on the wrong side of his career. Jackson is a player with still a lot of ability and ready to contribute immediately.

The Perfect Number Two

Some of the Jackson doubters, or haters, like to call him a “one-trick pony”. They say he can only do one thing well, and that is go long. He doesn’t have much of a route tree and just has one way of going about his business.

Well, Randy Moss was the same way and he is a borderline Hall of Famer. Am I saying that Jackson is Moss? No. But I am saying that when someone is good at the one particular trick, it’s still very appealing to watch. It becomes even more appealing when you come to the realization that his skill set makes him the perfect number two receiver for the Bucs.

Mike Evans is targeted a lot. That might even be an understatement. In just three seasons, he has already been targeted a whopping 444 times, an average of 148 times per season. Last year, Jameis Winston targeted Evans 173 times to lead the NFL. We know that isn’t acceptable, so why does it happen? It happens because he is the only on Winston consistently trusts on the outside.

He also has never had anybody that can go deep. Evans is at his best on the short to intermediate routes, as is Humphries. Cameron Brate has emerged as a weapon down the seam, but he isn’t exactly opening up the intermediate plays for others either. DeSean Jackson will be able to extend the field, giving players like Evans and Brate room to maneuver on the underneath plays.

He is also a trusted quarterback weapon:

Opening Up the Box

This one goes along similar lines to the previous page.

The fact that the Bucs had a tough time running the football in 2016 was well-documented. Many, including myself, have talked about Doug Martin not being the same player he once was. There also were problems along the offensive line. Aside from the couple of performances by Jacquizz Rodgers, the Bucs weren’t exactly a juggernaut in the ground game. We know Dirk Koetter, no matter how potent the passing game is, wants to run the ball.

So what’s the problem? In addition to the aforementioned, the problem is the defense crowding the box. When a team doesn’t have a legitimate threat down the field, the defense is going to come up and crowd the line of scrimmage. The Bucs would see seven, eight, or even nine guys in the box. Jim Brown couldn’t run against boxes that crowded, much less today’s backs.

When you add a receiver that averages nearly 18 yards per catch for his career, crowding the box is impossible. Everybody knows that his reputation is as a deep threat. When he is in the game, if there are eight in the box, he will be matched up one on one on the outside, and I like his chances. If the defense accommodates for him, that gives the running backs more lanes to run through.

That, my friends, is a win-win situation.

Special Teams

Hasn’t it been the longest time since the Bucs have had a legitimate threat in the return game? It certainly feels like it has been about a billion years or so. They have run many players back there, most notably Adam Humphries as of late. None of these guys have been a threat to take it to the house. They have never had the Devin Hester type, the guy that teams kick the ball away from.

There have been times in his career that DeSean Jackson has been that guy, especially returning punts. Take a look:

Just because he didn’t do it in Washington doesn’t mean he can’t any longer. As we noted earlier, Jackson is still quite fast. A returner is a need for the Bucs, and Jackson can be that guy if called upon.

Star Power

This one is more for Bucs Nation than for the team itself, but it felt like something worth including.

How long has it been since this team had some real star power? We have talked at length about the lack of respect given to Mike Evans. Jameis Winston still has his detractors all over the landscape. Even the Bucs themselves weren’t getting a ton of respect as they made their push to the playoffs in the second half of 2016..

Along with that, no players of any magnitude have wanted come down to Tampa and play. That’s what a lot of losing does, it kills the team reputation among free agents. Who wants to play for a perennial loser? Exactly nobody, that’s who. Nobody worth their weight wants to play for a franchise that is always on the wrong side of the .500 mark. Players want to win. Well, they want to make money and win.

Now, the tide has turned. The Bucs finished over .500. They made a real push at the playoffs last year. The defense is coming together and the offense is dynamic. Now, you add a player with the pedigree of DeSean Jackson. Now, the world will take notice. A big name, with star power, has entered Raymond James Stadium. Hey, maybe the Bucs are for real!

Next: Free Agency Primer

Buckle up, folks. We haven’t even hit the draft yet, and 2017 is already setting up to be one heck of a ride.