Ron Rivera just looked at the hornet’s nest, and instead of kicking it, the Panthers’ coach picked it up and started swinging it around.Friday afternoon, after a report accused wide receiver DeSean Jackson of having gang ties, and after Jackson’s subsequent release from the Eagles, Rivera told USA Today the Panthers would be interested in pursuing Jackson.Those comments contradict what I’ve heard from NFL sources since a report first claimed Carolina was interested in trading for Jackson.Connecting the dots from a team without a top receiver to an extremely talented one the Eagles wanted to get rid of made sense, but it was made clear to me the Panthers weren’t and wouldn’t be interested. While Carolina lacked the money and trade pieces to land him, they were mostly concerned about his baggage.Rivera’s comments obviously fly right in the face of that and many are now scratching their heads to figure out why he said what he did.If the Panthers are indeed interested in finding a way to somehow fit Jackson inside their tight cap, it’s news to me, and I’ll be willing to say I’ve been loud wrong.But for right now, my only reasoning for Rivera’s comments is he was playing the “we’ll always look at someone who could help us win” card.I assumed all the DeSean-to-Carolina speculation had died down, but Rivera’s ramped it back up in a big way. If the head coach is willing to go on record to say something others in the organization have been adamantly against, there has to be a reason. What that reason is remains unclear.(UPDATE, March 28 at 3:25 p.m.: I can confirm, as Pro Football Talk first reported, the Panthers still have no interest in Jackson and Rivera was trying to help out a fellow former Cal guy.)