Perhaps you’ve heard that former Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson has signed with Philly’s division rivals, the Washington Redskins. It seems it was a team effort to bring Jackson to our nation’s capital, and NBA stars Kevin Durant and John Wall helped facilitate the signing.
After signing, Jackson went on ESPN 980′s Inside the Locker Room and mentioned that Durant had actively called him to recruit him to his hometown Redskins. As transcribed by Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Blog:
“I’m gonna put it like this: Wale is a good friend of mine as well,” Jackson said. “He’s a good rapper, he does his thing out here in D.C., puts on for the city. It was a little influenced by Wale. Another influence was my boy Durant. Kevin Durant been calling me, he been calling and saying man you know how I’d go crazy for you to be in D.C. I mean, what better place is there for me to be? I’m happy to be here. I’m glad, man, honestly I can say that.”
It might seem weird that Durant would convince Jackson, but KD is from just outside DC in Maryland and is a pretty diehard ‘Skins fan.
@DeseanJackson10 come on home bro! You belong here! #HTTR!!!
#redskins #RGIII to #Jaccpot! #Shwagggggg
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) April 2, 2014
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Durant wasn’t the only NBA player pitching the wide receiver on Washington DC as the destination to be. Wiz point guard John Wall also put in a good word about the DC sports scene when Jackson made an official free agency visit to DC.
@DeseanJackson10 congrats lil bro welcome to Redskins Nation. @RGIII @PierreGarcon @DeAngeloHall23 @Wale @John_Wall huge making it happen!!!
— DeAngelo Hall (@DeAngeloHall23) April 2, 2014
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It seems Wall and Jackson both have homes in Southern California, so there was a pre-existing relationship. Wall is a Cowboys fan, but even though they’re division rivals (like Jackson’s former team in the NFC East), Wall roots for the ‘Skins when they’re not playing his Cowboys. Such sports bigamy, we don’t know what to make of all it. Here’s Steinberg again:
“I knew him. I met him in L.A. and just said, ‘Waddup’ to him,” Wall explained to The Post’s Michael Lee. “[Monday] night, we lost that game in Charlotte, and I was mad and upset. And they all had went to Eden to show him a good time, and I wanted to go, but I was mad about the game. So I just told him, enjoy your trip, wish you the best of luck, and I know they’d love to have [you] here. That’s something big. They got another weapon to make their team dangerous.”
But why would a Cowboys fan try to help the Redskins?
“I’m a Cowboys fan, I ain’t going to lie about that,” Wall told Lee. “But I tell people — it’s kind of weird — but when they are not playing each other, I don’t mind cheering for [the Redskins]. Because I go to the games, and I’m cool with RGIII and DeAngelo Hall and those guys. Don’t look like [the Cowboys] trying to get better anytime soon. So, somebody got to do good.”
So there you go. Redskins fans have Kevin Durant and John Wall to help thank for landing DeSean Jackson. Hopefully for ‘Skins fans, he’ll help Robert Griffin III. Back to basketball now.
What do you think?
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