While plenty of his former teammates in Philadelphia back DeSean Jackson as a game-changingbrother-in-arms, the wide receiver's March release from the Eagles raised its share of concerns over his character.
In a recent interview with DJ Skee, picked up by The Washington Post, Jackson -- now with the Redskins -- quickly swatted down the notion that he was an off-the-field headache:
"The funniest thing, man: all this stuff like he's not a locker room player, he don't get along with his teammates, the people that really know me, they're like 'Man where is all this coming from?'" Jackson said. "I had teammates texting me and hitting me up, teammates that's still on the Eagles right now, like 'What were they talking about you ain't a team guy, you don't get along with people in your locker room?'
"Everybody in the locker room loved me, you feel me?" Jackson continued. "I'm gonna put it on the line just how they gonna put it; I'm gonna put it on the line for them, too. So it's like, I know who my real homies are. The real homies stepped up. My boy LeSean McCoy, one of the best running backs in the NFL, he stepped up, he said some real stuff. But in this league bro, a lot of people are scared and afraid to speak up, because they feel like they're gonna be the next one cut. They feel like they're gonna be the next one cut. So the ones that really did step up and speak up, I salute all of them."
Jackson also pointed specifically to former Eagles quarterback Michael Vick as someone who modeled personal growth and served as a big-brother type for the pass-catcher in Philly:
"Him just telling me that whole situation, how he used to carry 50 homies with him, everybody going here and there, he taught me a lot," Jackson said. "Because at the end of the day, when a certain situation comes around, ain't nobody gonna take your back. They all gonna rat you out. And that's the situation he learned from, which actually helped me to say 'Man, some of these homies that ain't here to help me and to be a positive, you've got to keep them to the side, man.'"
Eagles linebacker Mychal Kendricks might have said it best in March, telling Around The League that, more than anything, Jackson is "misunderstood" by outsiders. Aren't we all?
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