Bruce Arians is the new head honcho in Tampa Bay, and he’s reportedly working hard to convince dynamic wide receiver DeSean Jackson to get excited about staying.
From @gmfb Weekend: New #Bucs coach Bruce Arians is planning to re-recruit WR DeSean Jackson with hopes that he wants to stay in Tampa. BA does love a good downfield threat pic.twitter.com/aqXHy193mu
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 12, 2019
“One of the first things that Bruce Arians did upon getting the Tampa Bay Buccaners job was reach out to people for a phone number for DeSean Jackson. What B.A. intends to do — they haven’t connected yet — what he intends to do is re-recruit DeSean Jackson to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”
Rapoport went on to note that Jackson was clearly upset with how things went in Tampa Bay and reminded viewers that Jackson actually did request a trade. However, Arians wants to convince the speedy deep threat that staying with the Bucs is the best idea for all parties involved.
Jackson was very excited to sign on in Tampa Bay back in 2017 as a free agent. At the time, he felt like joining Jameis Winston and Mike Evans was going to help him stay at the top of his game and make a huge impact on an up-and-coming squad.
That obviously has not happened. Tampa Bay has been have won a grand total of 10 games the past two seasons, and Jackson has struggled to find chemistry with Winston. In his two seasons with the Bucs, the receiver has caught just 91 passes for 1,442 yards and seven touchdowns.
Arians has a history of getting the most out of his quarterbacks and of engineering an offense that consistently pushes the ball downfield. If Winston can be fixed — that’s debatable considering his turnover problem — then Jackson could do a heck of a lot worse than staying in Tampa Bay another year.