The Eagles on Tuesday afternoon put DeSean Jackson on Injured Reserve after the veteran receiver had successful core muscle surgery earlier in the day.
This move will likely end Jackson’s 2019 season, but there’s still an outside chance he could return in the playoffs if he’s healed and if the Eagles are still alive. He will need to miss eight games.
The earliest Jackson, 32, could return is in the divisional round. So it looks like even if Jackson is able to return from IR this season, the Eagles would need to get to the playoffs and then likely win a playoff game without him.
At the very least, Jackson is now officially done for the regular season, which isn’t very surprising. The recovery time from the core muscle surgery is four to six weeks and the Eagles have just seven games left in the regular season.
The Eagles are allowed to designate two players to return from IR. The other obvious candidate is cornerback Cre’Von LeBlanc, who is eligible now, but isn’t ready.
This is likely the end to a disappointing season for Jackson that started off with so much promise. In the opener, he caught eight passes for 154 yards and two long touchdowns.
But then he suffered an abdominal injury early in Week 2. He missed six games and tried to make a return on Sunday against the Bears. He played just four snaps and had surgery two days later.
NFL
Head coach Doug Pederson was asked on Monday about why the Eagles didn’t just give Jackson another two weeks to heal since the bye was coming right after the Chicago game.
“Sitting here today, you kind of go, ‘Alright, maybe you should have,’” Pederson admitted. “Your second-guessing now and we can't — we’re in a business where we have to play and we have to play with the guys who are in uniform. Again, he busted his tail to put himself in a position to help us [Sunday], and again he just felt that discomfort, so we kept him out and that's where we are.”
With Jackson on IR and after the Eagles waived Andrew Sendejo, they have two roster spots open. There’s a very good chance one of those will go to Jordan Matthews, who worked out for the Eagles on Tuesday.
Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device.