A year ago, the Eagles made the controversial decision to dump DeSean Jackson. He was just too much of a pain to deal with in the locker room, the theory goes. A guy who’s more interested in his own numbers than how he might potentially help the team win games.
But there’s no arguing that Jackson is one of the best at getting downfield and making big catches. And that continued last year, with 4 TDs over 60 yards for his new team.
Over the last three years, Jackson has been the best in the league at catching long touchdowns. In that span, his 17 touchdowns have come from an average of 42 yards. That’s 7 yards (on average) more than any other receiver in the league. (Well, among guys with at least 15 touchdowns.)
RECEIVERS, AVERAGE TD LENGTH | ||
---|---|---|
Player | TD | Avg |
DeSean Jackson | 17 | 42.0 |
T.Y. Hilton | 19 | 34.8 |
Victor Cruz | 15 | 30.1 |
Jordy Nelson | 28 | 29.5 |
A.J. Green | 28 | 28.9 |
Jeremy Maclin | 17 | 28.1 |
Golden Tate | 16 | 27.5 |
Julio Jones | 18 | 27.1 |
Larry Fitzgerald | 16 | 25.3 |
Brandon LaFell | 16 | 24.6 |
Calvin Johnson | 25 | 24.1 |
Antonio Brown | 26 | 24.1 |
Demaryius Thomas | 35 | 23.5 |
Dez Bryant | 41 | 22.4 |
Mike Wallace | 23 | 22.3 |
Anquan Boldin | 16 | 21.9 |
Alshon Jeffery | 20 | 21.5 |
Torrey Smith | 23 | 18.6 |
Vincent Jackson | 17 | 17.1 |
Randall Cobb | 24 | 17.0 |
Roddy White | 17 | 16.7 |
Eric Decker | 29 | 15.9 |
Eddie Royal | 16 | 15.8 |
Brandon Marshall | 31 | 15.2 |
James Jones | 23 | 14.7 |
Emmanuel Sanders | 16 | 13.9 |
Marques Colston | 20 | 13.8 |
Wes Welker | 18 | 9.8 |
—Ian Allan