Will DeSean Jackson be a Hall of Famer?

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DeSean Jackson is the latest in a series of stories looking at the Hall of Fame chances of current or recent Eagles who are still active in the NFL.

Friday, July 19: Fletcher Cox
Saturday, July 20: Zach Ertz
Today: DeSean Jackson
Monday, July 22: Jason Kelce
Tuesday, July 23: LeSean McCoy
Wednesday, July 24: Jason Peters
Thursday, July 25: Darren Sproles

Numbers: 589 catches, 10,261 yards, 17.4 average, 53 receiving touchdowns, 4 rushing touchdowns, 4 punt return touchdowns.

Postseason numbers: Has 21 catches for 338 yards and two touchdowns in seven career playoff games, all but one with the Eagles between 2008 and 2013.

Honors: Three-time Pro Bowl pick (2009, 2010, 2013).

Favorite stat: With 1,156 yards and an 18.6 average in 2009 with the Eagles and then 774 yards and an 18.9 average last year with the Buccaneers, Jackson is the only player in NFL history with seasons of 750 yards and an 18.5 average at least nine years apart.

Records and rankings

• Jackson’s 17.4 yards per catch career average is highest in the NFL over the last 35 years.

• Jackson's 24 career touchdowns of 60 yards or more are most in NFL history (Jerry Rice had 23). He has 24 TD catches of at least 50 yards, fifth most in NFL history.

• He’s the only player in history to lead the NFL in yards per catch four times and the only one to do it for more than one team (he did it for three).

• Jackson is 45th in NFL history in receiving yards, but he’s one of only six guys ever with at least 10,000 receiving yards and a 17.0 average. Three of the five others are Hall of Famers.

• Jackson has had four seasons with 1,000 yards and a 17.5 average. Only Lance Alworth and Don Maynard — both Hall of Famers — have had more.

• Jackson has 29 total career TDs of at least 50 yards, which is one every five games over his entire career.

• D-Jack’s 6.4 career rushing average is seventh highest in NFL history by non-quarterbacks with at least 70 attempts.

Analysis

With 1,739 more yards and assuming he keeps his career average over 17.0 — and it will be hard for him not to at this point — D-Jack will join James Lofton as only the second player in history with 12,000 receiving yards and an average over 17 yards per catch.

He truly is one of the greatest deep threats in the history of the game, and his return to the Eagles and an opportunity to finish his career playing with Carson Wentz should give Jackson a chance to continue being productive late in his career.

When you ask yourself whether someone is a Hall of Famer, you ask if there’s anything he did better than anyone else in the game, and there’s never been anybody quite like Jackson.

I do think he needs two more seasons to even get himself into the mix, and I think even then he’ll always be a long shot, just because he’s not going to be one of those 15,000-yard career guys.

But he’s such a unique player and such a consistently explosive one, he definitely will deserve consideration five years after he does retire.

Verdict: Will not be a Hall of Famer. 

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