Eagles release Jamaal Jackson

JAMAAL JACKSON, the longest-tenured Eagle, had one question for the panel that was about to bid him farewell by phone on Comcast SportsNet's Daily News Live:

"Y'all sure you're interviewing the right Jackson?"

Jamaal started 72 games at center for the Birds between 2005 and 2010, but he knew the big news yesterday evening was not his release at age 31, after a year in Howard Mudd purgatory. The big news was the 5-year contract agreed to by wideout DeSean Jackson.

It was that kind of day, a frenzy of Eagles developments, one quickly topping another, all of them involving players who were on the 2011 roster. If the Birds have any intention of adding through free agency, they haven't divulged it. A tweet yesterday evening from the Tampa Bay Bucs' Gerald McCoy lamented that McCoy had been unable to get Atlanta linebacker Curtis Lofton to sign with the Bucs, and announced Lofton was going to the Eagles. This turned out not to be true, as McCoy quickly noted.

So far, the Eagles are in housekeeping mode. Maybe even spring cleaning mode.

Deals for DeSean Jackson, right tackle Todd Herremans and defensive end Trent Cole (around $48 million, with about $15.5 million guaranteed) finalized yesterday.

A trade to Indianapolis dispatching former starting right tackle Winston Justice, another victim of the Mudd slide; the Eagles cleared about $2.3 million worth of cap room and were able to move up an entire 15 slots in the sixth round of the draft by exchanging picks with the Colts and former Eagles personnel exec Ryan Grigson.

Release for Jamaal Jackson, who feels he can still play as he approaches his 32nd birthday in May.

A restricted free agent tender signing by defensive tackle Antonio Dixon, who was missed against the run when he went on IR after four games last season.

Jackson said his top memory from his time with the Eagles happened at a point when his career seemed to be over before it started. In preseason 2004, Jackson, a practice-squad offensive lineman as an undrafted rookie from Delaware State in 2003, had just suffered a triceps tear and was going on injured reserve. So he would enter 2005 having been around the Eagles for 2 years, and never having played in a game.

"I had a conversation with Juan [Castillo, then the offensive line coach], and he told me I could play in this league," Jackson recalled yesterday. "He was the only person who believed in me . . . some people have said we have a father-son relationship. That might be a little strong, but we are pretty close."

"Things don't always end up the way you want 'em to," Winston Justice said yesterday. "One thing I've learned is to take the best out of every situation, improve from it. Even though last season didn't go like I wanted it to, I still had a chance to improve and I think I did. But I think it's a clean start and it'll be good."

Justice concluded one of the stranger Eagles careers when he was traded to the Colts yesterday. You'll recall the Birds were overjoyed that he slid out of the first round on draft day 2006, into their second-round lap at 39th overall. But then Justice couldn't get on the field, and when he finally did one night at the Meadowlands, he endured just about the worst night any offensive lineman ever had, anywhere, totally overwhelmed by Osi Umenyiora, who notched six sacks, at least four of them at Justice's expense.

Justice was scorned and largely forgotten until 2009, when Shawn Andrews went down just before the opener and Justice became the emergency right tackle. He did OK, much to the fans' surprise; if he hadn't suffered a 2010 knee injury that led to offseason surgery, Justice might never have given up the starting role. But he was unable to practice because of the knee when Mudd came aboard, didn't pick up the new coach's style very well, and saw Todd Herremans take his job.

Trent Cole was sick with pneumonia for 2 months when he was drafted by the Eagles, in the fifth round, back in 2005, Cole recalled yesterday. He reported for his first minicamp, the weekend after the draft, at 240 pounds.

A hundred and eight games and 68 sacks later, Cole sat behind the NovaCare podium and reflected on the "rough road" to his new 4-year contract extension. Agent Rich Rosa said Cole, third on the Eagles' all-time sack list behind Reggie White and Clyde Simmons, will be the NFL's third-highest-paid defensive end, at least until Mario Williams' expected signing with Buffalo is official.

Cole was the 146th player taken in the 2005 draft, and yet, he is the best defensive player the Eagles have drafted under Andy Reid.