Welp, that was quick. After spending an entire week as a free agent (and being called an alleged gang-member, or I guess “having” affiliations with gangs, or maybe he’s just really bad at sign-language and a lover of blue tees), DeSean Jackson has been signed by the Washington Football Team. From an NFL perspective, Washington now has four wide recievers roughly the same height, and three of them that can spread the field faster than Dan Snyder can sign 35-year-olds to egregious contacts. In fact, I’m pretty sure Jackson had to lie about his age to get signed. And from a fantasy perspective, this signing certainly changes some things…
With Jackson, the fantasy impact with the signing is notable, if for only the fact that if he signed with, let’s say, the Buffalo Bills, his fantasy production would be the first victim. The second victim would be his street cred, since Buffalo doesn’t seem like a place where gangsters can thrive. Don’t get caught drinking your juice in the hood near Suzanne’s Crullers… yeah, doesn’t really mesh. Some might point out that Pierre Garçon and Jackson could vulture targets from each other, but I’m not so sure. There are certainly examples of two good wide receivers getting plenty of production opportunity between them. Look at the Bears and their two-headed beast in Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery last season. Heck, even Denver found a way to have 18 Pro Bowl receivers, so I’m just saying, the idea of a target cap may be overrated. Even when you enter Andre Roberts into the mix, I’m sure Jay Grudan’s affinity for a ‘throw or die’ strategy will only stimulate the passing game, especially when you have three guys that can all find separation from coverage with their game-changing speed. And for Jackson himself, his value doesn’t really change at all and I’d probably rank him in the same spot if he were still with the Eagles. Same with Garçon and Roberts.
As for Santana Moss, not that any of us should care, but his days in the District seem numbered. I’m iffy on changing Jordan Reed‘s outlook as well. The receiver depth chart means a lot of downfield options and you can’t do 8-step drop-backs and throw 25 yards every play. I mean, you can, but that didn’t work out so well for Cam Cameron. There will still be plenty of check-downs, read options, and a mid-range game to fuel his possible 2014 break out.
In the end though, the player that will gain the biggest boost from this signing is Robert Griffin III. There’s no denying that there are a lot of weapons on this team, so, now that I think of it, maybe Jackson isn’t such a great fit. (Sorry.) As I mentioned earlier, Jay Gruden loves the vertical game, no doubt. The numbers he was able to squeeze out of Andy Dalton completely speaks to his penchant to push the ball downfield in large chunks. Either way you look at it though, this is essentially the best scenario for RGIII, and while I’m hesitant to upgrade his potential ranking by a large margin, I think this move could put him close to the top-10 door, where I probably would have ranked him closer to 15-ish at the beginning of the off-season.
