Darrell Jackson happy to be practicing? Now that is news.

The former leading receiver for the Seahawks moped around for too many of his final days with the team, which was a major reason club president Tim Ruskell traded him to the 49ers during the draft last year.

Cut by the 49ers after only one season, Jackson is in Denver -- and apparently happy to be there.

Here's a story from the Denver Post detailing Jackson's new outlook:

Long after most of the Broncos had retired to the locker room following a recent offseason workout, Darrell Jackson just couldn't seem to leave the practice field.

He hung around for at least 15 more minutes, idly chatting with fellow wide receivers, slapping high-fives and tossing a football back and forth with his new teammates.

Consider it a promising new start for Jackson, who has joined his third team in three years.

The Broncos signed him to a one-year contract in April, shortly after Jackson was released after one season with San Francisco. Now he is competing to be Denver's No. 2 receiver behind Brandon Marshall and eager to prove he can produce as he did in his seven seasons with Seattle.

"Sometimes the best thing to do is just move on and be happy," Jackson said. "It's not good to play football when you're miserable."

Jackson, 29, said his year in San Francisco was the worst time in his career. As the 49ers' offense struggled -- their passing game ranked last in the NFL in 2007 -- so did Jackson's production. He caught only 46 passes for 497 yards and three touchdowns, all career lows for a season in which he played more than 13 games. The previous year in Seattle, Jackson caught a career-high 10 touchdown passes and was only 44 yards shy of his fourth 1,000-yard season. A season before that he played in Super Bowl XL, catching five passes for 50 yards in the first quarter of the Seahawks' loss to Pittsburgh.

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said he looked at Jackson's numbers with Seattle -- where he left ranked No. 2 in team history in touchdown catches, third in receiving yards and fourth in catches -- not at what happened in 2007.

"I'm going more on what he's done in the past and how he's played in the past, and he hasn't disappointed us so far," Shanahan said. "He's a veteran who has a lot of confidence, and he should, based on the kind of production he's had."

Jackson and Shanahan pointed to plenty of reasons for the drop in production with San Francisco: A first-year offensive coordinator, injuries to the starting and backup quarterbacks, the adjustment to a new system.

Jackson, too, accepted some of the blame.

"I went through a depression stage, having never been in an offense like that and not being able to contribute," Jackson said. "Sometimes I was lackadaisical or something, and would lose focus, drop a few balls and stuff like that on short catches."

The low point, Jackson said, came Nov. 18 when the 49ers lost their eighth consecutive game. San Francisco won two games in December to finish 5-11, and Jackson caught a touchdown pass in each of the team's final two games, but by then it was too late. When offensive coordinator Jim Hostler was fired the first week in January and replaced by Mike Martz, it signaled the end of Jackson's brief tenure with the 49ers. The team signed veteran Isaac Bruce, who played for Martz in St. Louis, and dumped Jackson, who was slated to make $4 million in San Francisco. Jackson said his deal in Denver is worth about $2 million, including bonuses.

"I think this is the perfect opportunity for both parties," said Brian Mooney, Jackson's agent. "Darrell has the chance to go out and erase the memory of San Francisco. And I think Denver can really use Darrell."

Denver added veteran Keary Colbert from Carolina and Samie Parker from Kansas City in the offseason for more depth at the position. With Marshall still recovering from a serious injury to his right forearm, Jackson, Colbert and Brandon Stokley have taken most of the repetitions with the first-team offense during mini-camp.

"I think we've got good chemistry here," Jackson said. "We've got guys who like to compete, guys who want to see other guys do good. When somebody makes a play, everyone else wants to go make a play."