Buccaneers: DeSean Jackson Will Open the Offense at All Levels

Jackson for Nine:

We start in week one against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Redskins are lined up on their own 44 yard line. Kirk Cousins is in the shotgun and Jackson is lined up wide to the outside.

Take a look at the cushion that William Gay is giving Jackson here. He is on his own 48 yard line, making the cushion eight yards. See the respect that he is giving Jackson? Gay is so concerned about the threat over the top, he is giving Jackson nearly ten yards.

Jackson is going to run a curl route, running Gay hard and then stopping on a dime to look back for the ball.

As we move ahead, we see Jackson is turning back for the ball as Cousins is getting ready to release it. Do you see how deep Gay is? Not only is he giving a significant cushion, he is also still moving down field. His momentum is taking him out of the play, leaving him no chance to make a play on “D-Jax”.

Jackson makes the play with a lot of room to spare…

Nine yards down the field Jackson is pushed out of bounds.

You might be wondering why I am singling out a simple curl route that gained nine yards. It shows one of the many ways Jackson opens up the offense. Because he is such a threat to go deep, that play will be open almost every time they run it.

It takes pressure off of Mike Evans to have a guy on the outside that garners that kind of respect.

Let’s take a look at a play where Jackson uses his blazing speed to turn a short pass into a big gain.