The Philadelphia Eagles do not miss DeSean Jackson. Head coach Chip Kelly actually hinted that the roster was better off without Jackson and that the team's offseason additions would make Eagles' fans forget all about their former leading receiver. That might be a good thing considering Jackson recently spoke out against the fanbase. While some fans might be concerned about replacing the wide receiver's stats, Kelly is confident a few wide receivers will step up including rookie Jordan Matthews.
According to Kelly, the offense will actually be better without Jackson on the field. The head coach noted that Jackson was never the type of receiver that drew a double-team from the defense. Most assumed that the Eagles lacked a wide receiver that would draw the defense in, but Kelly disagrees.
"I think most people played us in single high [safety] coverage and they played man across the board on anybody and no one was getting any help," Kelly said, via ESPN.com. "Riley [Cooper] was getting man [coverage] on his side. DeSean was getting man on his side. Jason Avant was getting man in the slot. Zach Ertz, whoever our tight end was, was getting manned. Running back was getting manned. No one is going to play us in two [safeties] deep because if you play us in two deep, we can run the heck out of the ball. We had everybody as close to the line of scrimmage as possible and nobody was helping anybody. They were trying to stop the run game."
Kelley is confident that receivers like Matthews will replace Jackson as they both have similar builds. Many Eagles' fans are likely hoping that Jeremy Maclin takes on that role after missing an entire season for a knee injury. However, the improvement of Matthews might dictate otherwise. As of now it looks like Maclin, Cooper and Matthews were be the starting wide receivers with the rookie possibly excelling above the other two.
That leaves the remaining offensive competition down to the running back position as LeSean McCoy and newly signed Darren Sproles. Kelly is promising equal attention to both running backs, but Sproles is a more dynamic rusher than McCoy which could dictate their carries going forward.
