Eagles may not cut DeSean Jackson despite anti-semitic post

Philadelphia Eagles WR DeSean Jackson’s deplorable anti-semitic Instagram post might not leave him jobless after all.

From a purely football standpoint, cutting DeSean Jackson was not something the Eagles had in mind prior to the 2020 NFL season.

Yet, his recent actions on social media, which included a anti-Semitic post complete with a fake Adolf Hitler quote, demand some sort of action by Philadelphia. Still, nothing has happened. A statement may not suffice for actions so deplorable, but simply releasing Jackson comes down to financial ramifications, not just a moral dilemma.

Jackson’s contract doesn’t allow the Eagles to simply move on from the 33-year-old wideout. Rather, if that’s the route Philadelphia truly wants to take, they need to go through his deal with a fine-tooth comb.

Can the Eagles afford to cut DeSean Jackson?

Jackson’s contract comes with a $4.5 million cap hit, and that’s in guaranteed dollars. To let him go now, without proving he violated his contract, would be a tough move for the Eagles, regardless of Jackson’s actions.

To release D-Jax with minimal financial impact, the Eagles must suspend him, but doing so for a social media post not directly correlated to an on-field activity would be grounds for Jackson to collect his guaranteed money. The league isn’t stepping in on this, either.

Per Pro Football Talk, there is one portion of Jackson’s contract that may apply, but as you’ll see, the language is quite broad.

"“Player makes any public comment (including, but not limited to, any newspaper, magazine, television station, radio station, Internet, via social media) or takes action that Club reasonably determines, in its sole discretion, (i) breaches a material obligation of loyalty to Club and/or (ii) materially undermines the public’s respect for or is criticizing of Club, Player’s teammates, Club’s ownership, Club coaches, Club management, any of Club’s operations or policies, or the NFL.”"

It’s easy for us to interpret Jackson’s comments as something that “undermines the public’s respect,” but you can bet a team of lawyers could disprove such an idea, especially with $5 million on the line.

As much as Jeffrey Lurie and Co. wish Jackson wasn’t their problem right now, they might be stuck with him.