At this point in the offseason the rumors have usually slowed down dramatically. Most top free agents have landed with a team already or the NFL has decided it’s time for that player to hang the cleats up. This offseason, however, things are a little different. On Friday a huge playmaker was released from his team and he plays at a position that the 49ers and the Seahawks both need.
Wide receiver DeSean Jackson was released from the Eagles on Friday. The Eagles didn’t specify why but it’s been speculated that it was due to supposed gang ties.
While Jackson might not be an active gang member, these kinds of things scare teams more now after what happened with Aaron Hernandez. Before Jackson was released it had been rumored that the 49ers called the Eagles inquiring about a trade. Since he has been released, there has been no mention of the 49ers being interested in bringing him in.
The Seahawks, however, have been rumored to be interested in his services. Albert Breer of NFL Netwoek tweeted, “I know there are reasons why Seattle wouldn’t sign DeSean Jackson, but Pete Carroll’s relationship with him makes Seahawks worth watching.” Doug Farrar of Sports Illustrated also tweeted, “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Seahawks swooped in on Jackson and gave him a prove-it deal.” And Jason La Canfora of CBS tweeted, “The Seahawks, 49ers, Jets, Raiders among the teams that had prior interest in DeSean Jackson, FWIW. Have a gut Seattle is a major player.” If Seattle can pair Percy Harvin and DeSean Jackson, that’ll be a nightmare for defenses around the league.
Chris Culliver is in the news again and again it’s not for the right reasons. On Friday Culliver was arrested on charges of felony hit-and-run, weapons possession, and misdemeanor hit-and-run. What supposedly happened was Culliver hit a bicyclist with his car, fled the scene, a witness followed him and cornered him in a parking lot,
Culliver got out of his car and threatened the witness with brass knuckles, he got back into his car, and as he was leaving hit the witnesses’ car and fled that scene too. The question this leads to is what are the 49ers going to do with him? Do they cut him? If they cut him that would leave them with Tramaine Brock, Eric Wright, Perrish Cox, and Chris Cook as their cornerbacks. T
his is not exactly an All-Pro caliber lineup. With Culliver also coming off an ACL injury last season, does this make the cornerback position even more important during the draft? They have a lot of picks to work with, so theoretically they can go get any cornerback they want in this draft.
It has been talked about by some people that Sammy Watkins, wide receiver out of Clemson and the consensus top wide receiver in this year’s draft, could end up slipping to about the tenth pick. I don’t see this happening, but there’s always a chance.
The lack of teams needing a wide receiver at the top of the draft coupled with his lack of size (I don’t see that as a problem but some teams may) could lead to slipping. In 2009 people didn’t see Michael Crabtree slipping to the 49ers but he did. The Raiders were expected to take him but went with a different wide receiver instead. Something as simple as that can cause players to fall. Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network said that the 49ers might start calling teams to move up if Watkins starts to slip to that tenth spot. With all their draft picks, they can move just about as high as they want.
And speaking of Watkins, from remarks that head coach of the Rams, Jeff Fisher, made at the owners meetings in Orlando this past week, it doesn’t look like the Rams will be taking Watkins with the second overall pick.
According to Rams general manager Les Snead, they have more than a 50% chance to sign free agent wide receiver Kenny Britt. If they end up signing Britt, Bradford will be out of excuses if he doesn’t perform up to expectations this season
With this DeSean Jackson news breaking on Friday, I expect it’s going to be a crazy weekend of speculation and possibly a signing. And for the NFC West, there are two really good landing spots in Seattle and San Francisco for Jackson. For this time during the offseason, this division has a lot of things that are up in the air. What’s going to happen to Chris Culliver? Where is DeSean Jackson going to end up? Is Jeff Fisher just throwing up a smokescreen about Sammy Watkins? No one really knows, but I’m sure eager to find out.