DeSean Jackson: “I’ll be back stronger than ever”

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The Eagles are in the market for receivers this year because the guys they were counting on last year were older, expensive, and injured.

At least one of them has declared himself fit now.

Via Reuben Frank of NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com, Eagles wideout DeSean Jackson said that he was back to 100 percent after having core muscle surgery last November.

“I’ll be back stronger than ever,” Jackson said, in an interview with Thai Floyd of Bar None Media from the sidelines of an XFL game in Tampa.

“Feels good,” Jackson said. “Being able to have like three months to train and build and do rehab, so I feel like now I’m back at 100 percent. So just trying to train and take it day by day without rushing and getting back right. But I have a lot of time on my hands so trying to prepare and take every step I can to get back to where I need to be.”

The Eagles were hoping for some big-play production after bringing him back last year, and it looked good early, with a pair of 50-yard touchdowns in the opener. Then he suffered the core injury in Week Two, spent two months rehabbing, tried to play in Week Nine and made it worse, before deciding to have surgery. He hadn’t spoken to reporters since the surgery.

The Eagles gave him a three-year, $27 million contract with $17 million guaranteed after re-acquiring him from the Bucs last March. He’s due to make $6.2 million this year.

The 33-year-old Jackson would be nice to have, since the Eagles would like to be able to find a taker for Alshon Jeffery (who would also like to find a taker), but that might be difficult given his injury and salary. He’s recovering from Lisfranc surgery in December, and is due $11.5 million guaranteed next year.

Without those two, the Eagles were forced to use an odd lot of players down the stretch, and they’re clearly looking to add to the position.