The Film Room: DeSean Jackson's deep ball receiving still best in NFL

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The Washington Redskins’ offense exploded in the second half of the season. Much had to do with deep threat wide receiver DeSean Jackson returning to the lineup after injuring his hamstring in the first game of the season. In this video breakdown, I discuss how the Redskins used DeSean Jackson to stretch defenses vertically and how they paired him with tight end Jordan Reed to form deadly duo.

Deep Ball Receiving

This table breaks down all of Kirk Cousins’ deep passing attempts to DeSean Jackson this past season including the playoffs. Deep refers to any pass 15 yards or greater.

Defensive backs consistently underestimated DeSean Jackson’s ability to change speed. Out of DeSean Jackson’s 11 incompleted passes, five of them were overthrown by Kirk Cousins. Jackson was actually only underthrown on two deep passing attempts that resulted in an incompletion.

Jackson is in his contract year after signing a three year - $24 million deal back in 2014. The Redskins drafted wide receiver Josh Doctson out of Texas Christian University this past draft. Doctson has been dealing with a lingering achilles injury and even though DeSean Jackson has missed time in six of his eight seasons in the NFL with various injuries, he needs to be re-signed next off-season.