A shoulder injury has Washington Redskins wide receiver DeSean Jackson officially questionable to play Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, but it's widely assumed Jackson will fight through the pain so he doesn't miss the chance to get revenge on his former teammates.
Not so fast, says Redskins head coach Jay Gruden.
"I think (Jackson's) gonna be a game-day type deal," Gruden said during a radio interview Friday (via The Washington Post). "He wants to go really bad — obviously he’s going back to Philly. But if he’s not 100 percent — if he’s 60-70 percent — he’s really not that good to us.
"He’s already a very terrible blocker," Gruden said, perhaps jokingly. "We’ll see. I think he wants to play. He’s a tough guy. He is allowed to wear shoulder pads, so he might be all right."
It's hard to imagine even 60 to 70 percent of Jackson couldn't help the Redskins in an important early-season game with control of the NFC East on the line, but Gruden has been around long enough to know that risking a player's long-term health for one week (even if it has special personal meaning) is very rarely a wise move.
Jackson's exit from Philadelphia was reportedly due, in part, to his repeated clashes with coaches. One wonders what he'll think of Gruden's latest comments.
