DeSean Jackson looking to outrun his first stint with the Eagles | Bob Ford

Five years and four months since Chip Kelly evicted him from South Philadelphia, wide receiver DeSean Jackson took part in his first formal training camp practice with the Eagles on Thursday. Even he couldn’t say the return to familiar surroundings was as if no time had passed. Jackson is very aware of the time.

He is in his 12th NFL season now, will turn 33 in December, and the brash kid taken in the second round of the 2008 draft has mellowed into a more mature veteran. He still has the swagger of a duelist who owns the sharpest saber, but Jackson has learned to be more than just the fastest guy on the field.

“You play smarter when you are a veteran, not making any unnecessary moves,” Jackson said “The quarterback only has so much time in this league, and the linemen are blocking their tails off, so you’ve got to get where you want to be.”

His legs can still carry him there very quickly. Coming out of Cal, Jackson was clocked at 4.35 seconds in the 40-yard dash. Is he still that fast?

“I’d like to say so. I don’t think I’ve lost a step. I’ve still got the speed that has kept me in this league, but they haven’t timed me in a long time,” he said. “I’m good with where I’m at right now.”

He was good with being on the Philadelphia Eagles the first time around, until he ran afoul of Kelly. After one season together, Kelly released Jackson and did nothing to dispel the back-channel buzz that the coach didn’t care for the receiver’s work ethic, or attentiveness during meetings, or his general attitude.

Then, when a lightly sourced, and never corroborated, story quickly broke that appeared to link Jackson to gang membership, the Eagles were silent. It wasn’t the finest moment in the organization’s history, but it was pretty much just another day for Kelly.

“Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, and now I have a way to rewrite the story the way I want it to go,” Jackson said.

Jackson spent three seasons in Washington and two in Tampa Bay during his time in the wilderness. Those teams compiled a 31-48-1 record with Jackson over the five seasons, and the receiver missed a total of 15 games – almost a full season – to various nagging injuries. He had his moments, and gained more than 1,000 receiving yards twice in that span, but, like someone keeping tabs on an old flame, always knew what was happening with the Eagles.

“I never really thought I’d have the opportunity to come back and be in the position I’m in now, being in the 12th year of my career,” Jackson said. “I have the opportunity to come back and [show] that whoever was here when they made that decision, they should never have did it.”

Jackson provides the deep threat that can stretch out a defense, something the team lacked badly last season after Torrey Smith departed and Mike Wallace suffered an early injury. At practice, even during routine warmup drills, Jackson blazes from the line and Carson Wentz finds him in stride with passes that arc more than 50 yards down the field.

July receptions don’t mean much, but these catch one’s eye.

“That deep-ball ability takes pressure off all the other guys, and he’ll open up a lot underneath,” Wentz said. “The thing that excites me the most is not just the deep ball, but he threatens defenses in different ways. He can do some things underneath, and run with the ball after the catch. I’ve never really played with anybody with that speed, so it’s exciting to have him out there.”

After practice, Jackson and Alshon Jeffery peeled off their jerseys and shoulder shells and ran wind sprints together. No one would have noticed if they didn’t after the very first practice on the opening day of training camp, but it was noticeable that they did.

“A receiver can never run too much. You never get comfortable. You never get content. You just keep striving to knock down the goal,” Jackson said.

With another kind of weapon at his disposal, coach Doug Pederson has put some new wrinkles into the offense, some innovation on their previous themes. Jackson says they have “dope stuff” in the playbook that didn’t used to be there.

“He brings a level of excitement to the offense, because he’s still got that speed, quickness, and burst,” Pederson said. “He knows himself and knows the game, and then you factor in the speed.”

That has always been his biggest factor, but this time around, you can also factor in the ending to the story that he longs to write in Philadelphia.

"At first, it was definitely a little weird being back. I’m past that now,” Jackson said. “I’ve just been finding my way in this game, trying to figure out how to do things the right way.”

He’s still not perfect. The list of the perfect is not a long one. But it might be that he will be just right for what the Eagles need this season. As he runs across the field here once again, nothing is chasing him now. He is chasing the perfect ending instead, and the man looks fast enough to catch it.