Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has questioned the Philadelphia Eagles over their decision to let star receiver DeSean Jackson leave and sign with a divisional rival.
Jackson was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles last week after reports linked him to a Los Angeles-based gang.
Sherman has now expressed his concern that the possibility of Jackson's alleged gang ties being part of the Eagles' decision to release him are unfair, based on their decision to keep Riley Cooper after he made a racist slur last summer.
In a piece written for TheMMQB.com, Sherman said: "The Seattle Seahawks get it; the Philadelphia Eagles apparently do not. Was DeSean supposed to say to these 'gang members' - his friends, 'Thanks guys, but now that I'm a millionaire, please leave me alone?' Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have. In desperate times for people who come from desperate communities, your friends become your family.
"Last year they re-signed a player who was caught on video screaming, 'I will fight every nigger here.' He was representing the Eagles when he said it, because of course, everything we do is reflective of the organisation.
"But what did they do to Riley Cooper, who, if he's not a racist, at least has 'ties' to racist activity? They fined him and sent him to counseling. No suspension necessary for Cooper and no punishment from the NFL, despite its new interest in policing our use of the N-word on the field.
"Riley instead got a few days off from training camp and a nice contract in the off-season, too."
Sherman and Jackson were childhood friends who grew up in LA, and he stated in the article that neither man would ever run from where they were raised.
Joe McPhee
