DeSean Jackson said the Las Vegas Raiders provided what he was looking for in a new team after asking for a trade from the Los Angeles Rams before an eventual release last week.
“The Raiders matched perfect,” Jackson said, via Vic Tafur of TheAthletic.com.
So what made the Raiders the right landing spot for Jackson? He said that a confidence in Derek Carr to give him chances downfield were a part of that equation and it’s an ability he saw in Carr watching Nelson Agholor last year.
“(Agholor) had a lot of success here and just seeing that vertical threat, and having a quarterback that can get the ball down the field is huge,” Jackson said. “I had other options but I was very confident in Carr’s ability to get the ball down the field.”
Jackson had just eight catches in seven games played for the Rams. However, those eight catches went for 221 yards and a touchdown. He’s still got an ability to stretch a defense even if he isn’t the consistent threat he was earlier in his career. Jackson isn’t looking for a substantially increased role with the Raiders but wants to fill the role they need after the departure of Henry Ruggs III because of a fatal car accident earlier this month.
“I will do whatever it is I am asked to do,” Jackson said. “Coming in midway through the season … unfortunately the situation with Ruggs, it kind of just … I am not saying I am filling that role, but just trying to be the spark that I have been my whole career. You know, deep threat, vertical threat and (forcing) a defense to have to account for that.
“If it’s being a decoy and opening things up for (Darren) Waller or Hunter (Renfrow), whatever I need to do to be a spark is what I am here for. … I’m not asking to get the ball 100 times.”
