THOUSAND OAKS — The Rams signed DeSean Jackson as a free agent last winter confident that the former Long Beach Poly wide receiver would add a deep threat to the passing game with his still-elite speed.
It appears now the speediest thing about Jackson is how fast his Rams career came and went.
Coach Sean McVay said Friday the Rams have agreed to let Jackson look for a team interested in trading for him after his role in the offense shrank over the past month.
“This hasn’t exactly been probably what he envisioned, and I think he deserves an opportunity to be able to see if there’s better options out there for him,” McVay said before practice.
“I don’t think it’s wrong for him to want to feel like ‘I want to be utilized more. I think I’ve got more to be able to give. And if there’s another team that’s out there …’ I can understand that.”
McVay said Jackson won’t play Sunday when the Rams (6-1) face the Houston Texans (1-6) at NRG Stadium.
McVay wouldn’t say if the decision to let Jackson was arrived at mutually or if Jackson approached the team about it, but said it was reached in “a good conversation this morning.”
Asked if Jackson, 34, would be welcome to remain with the Rams if a move isn’t worked out before the NFL trade deadline Tuesday, McVay didn’t say yes but instead said he would have more information then if it came to that.
But wide receiver Robert Woods said he thought Jackson could still help the Rams.
“He’s still a valuable asset to any team, to our team if he wants to come back,” Woods said, adding with a smile: “Not my decision.”
Woods and wide receiver Cooper Kupp said Jackson had been a good teammate and didn’t let disappointment about his role disrupt the locker room.
“There wasn’t no issues,” Woods said. “Obviously, everybody wants to compete, wants the ball, wants to contribute. That’s just him being a competitor.
“Nothing (was) voiced out or anything said around the locker room. Our team is all about winning, not letting our personal things get in the way.”
Said Kupp: “To be able to come back here, play in his home town and be a part of things here, for him to say I want the opportunity to be on the field and make plays and be able to play football and compete out there, I think that speaks volumes about the competitor he is.”
In some ways, Jackson seemed like a good fit when in March he signed a one-year contract with a base salary of $2.75 million and worth up to $4.5 million including incentive bonuses.
He was a Southern California native happy to play at home. He and McVay got along when both were in Washington. His speed would allow new Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford to stretch the field.
They got results early in the season, Stafford hitting Jackson for a 75-yard touchdown in the Week 3 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a 68-yard play in the Week 5 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
But in games since the highlight play against the Bucs, Jackson’s playing time and passes thrown his way declined steadily, until he was on the field for 6% of offensive snaps, targeted once and had no catches in Sunday’s win over the Detroit Lions.
The 14-year pro and three-time Pro Bowler had fallen to a distant fourth in the Rams’ wide-receiver rotation behind Kupp, Woods and Van Jefferson. This, despite the fact that Jackson had gained 221 yards on eight receptions this season, a league-high 27.6 yards per catch. Jackson’s career number in that stat is 17.5, highest among active players.
On Wednesday, Jackson wasn’t made available for an interview for a reporter writing about his role, and he wasn’t at practice Friday.
McVay and Stafford said earlier this week that even if Jackson wasn’t catching a lot of passes, the threat of his speed helped to open up shorter routes for other receivers.
McVay said then that he’d like to get Jackson more involved, and talked about using him to return punts.
“This is not easy for me, either,” McVay said Friday. “I would have liked to have done a better job of finding ways to get him involved. It hasn’t unfolded in ways that you would hope.”
The Rams have not had to rely on Jackson for deep receptions. Jefferson had a 67-yard touchdown and Kupp a 56-yarder in the season-opening win over the Chicago Bears. The team has excelled in “explosive play” stats.
“I’m never going to take away from what D-Jax is or what he’s done,” Kupp said. “He’s arguably the greatest deep threat in the history of the game. It might not even be arguable. But we’ve got a lot of explosive guys on our team.”
After talking about Tutu Atwell a few days ago, calling on the speedy rookie to show an “increased sense of urgency,” McVay seemed to downplay the need for pressing him into Jackson’s role.
“I think we’ll see. I mean, he hasn’t done anything,” McVay said of Atwell on Friday. “DeSean is a potential Hall of Fame player that’s got a résumé that speaks for itself.
“When you look at it, I feel really good about the guys that have played a lot of snaps for us. You look at Cooper, you look at Robert. I think Van’s an ascending player. (Tight end Tyler) Higbee, our backs. Some other guys might be asked to step up.”
If Jackson goes to another team, it will be his fifth move since the Philadelphia Eagles drafted him out of Cal in the second round in 2008.
In March, Jackson used the words “excited” or “excitement” 10 times in talking about his return to Los Angeles in a virtual press conference.
“I look at it almost like when LeBron (James) went back to Cleveland and won a championship for Cleveland, Ohio,” Jackson said. “At this point in my career, I’m about winning, man.”
The Rams are winning, but Jackson hasn’t been a big part of it.
So he’s looking to make a fast departure.
NOTES
The Rams declared left tackle Andrew Whitworth (knee) and defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day (pectoral strain) out of Sunday’s game against the Texans, and listed cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey (ill) and Robert Rochell (knee) and safety Jordan Fuller (knee) as questionable.