Why Jeremy Maclin Is Philadelphia Eagles' Most Pleasant Surprise After 3 Weeks

Six seasons into his NFL career, Jeremy Maclin is an underachieving, oft-injured wide receiver who has failed to live up to first-round expectations.

At least that seems to be the general consensus on Maclin.

The reality is that he's a pretty productive player who consistently puts up good numbers. While he hasn't developed into the No. 1 receiver that was expected, he's been a fine performer opposite DeSean Jackson.

Other than a torn ACL that kept Maclin out for all of 2013, Maclin has stayed relatively injury-free. He's started 59 of 64 games since '09 (excluding '13). In his first four seasons, he averaged 55 receptions for 855 yards and six touchdowns, and that earned him a new one-year deal with Philadelphia.

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Jeremy Maclin is one of 7 WRs in NFL history w. 265 catches, 3700 yards and 27 TDs in first 4 seasons. He's 24. You keep him.

— Reuben Frank (@RoobCSN) March 20, 2013

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This year was supposed to be the real test for Maclin.

Chip Kelly famously released DeSean Jackson, which bumped Maclin up to the role of the team’s No. 1 receiver. Riley Cooper was re-signed to a five-year deal, and the Eagles drafted Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff in consecutive rounds.

Still, expectations were high that Maclin, in a one-year, prove-it deal and coming off a serious injury, could replace Jackson's production. Realistically, though, it seemed that the Eagles would need to compensate for their subpar receivers with underneath routes to running backs LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles, as well as tight ends Brent Celek and Zach Ertz.

So far, Maclin has been arguably the franchise’s most pleasant surprise this season.

A case could definitely be made for all-purpose back Sproles or tight end Ertz or even former first-round pick Fletcher Cox, who looks like a monster on the defensive line.

But Maclin’s snap count suggests he has a much bigger role in the offense than Sproles. Maclin is second among all NFL receivers in snaps played. He’s by far the Eagles’ most targeted receiver this season. Without Maclin, this passing game would really be struggling.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Matthews was all but invisible in the first two contests, and Cooper is showing his ’13 was a fluke.

Take away Sproles and the Eagles may have lost the Indianapolis game, but then again, his touches would likely just have gone to McCoy, who happens to be a top-three NFL running back. Ertz’s success was expected, with many thinking the second-year tight end would break out. And Cox was a former top-15 pick in the draft, so it’s anticipated that he becomes a Pro Bowl player.

Maclin really was the wild card for this season. It seemed he could produce if his knee held up, but that was a big "if."

And through three games, Maclin's stats put him on pace for an All-Pro campaign.

Snaps	Receptions	Yards	Yards Per Catch	TD
206 (T-2nd)	16 (T-14th)	296 (T-5th)	18.5 (6th)	3 (T-2nd)

Even more than those numbers, Maclin is second among wide receivers in yards gained after the catch (135), per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He's fifth in average yards gained after the catch per reception (8.4), among receivers with at least 10 receptions. And he hasn't dropped a single pass yet; in fact, he's one of just two players with 30-plus targets and no drops. 

Maclin has been remarkably consistent, too. He's totaled a touchdown in all three games this season. In fact, he's been a touchdown machine as of late.

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Jeremy Maclin now has a touchdown in each of his last five games. His 154 yards so far are the third-most of his career. #MacAttack

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 21, 2014

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This season bodes extremely well for Maclin's future. He is finally showing he can be a No. 1 receiver.

If he keeps it up, he will get a long-term extension to stay with Philadelphia. After all, Cooper doesn't seem to be showing the ability to separate from opposing defensive backs, and Matthews is still just a rookie. Kelly will need a veteran playmaker like Maclin.

This past Sunday was arguably the finest performance of Maclin's career. He finished with eight receptions for 154 yards and a touchdown. His score—a 27-yarder midway through the fourth quarter—gave the Eagles a 34-27 lead.

Michael Perez/Associated Press

But it was Maclin's third-down grab just two plays earlier that kept the eventual game-winning drive alive, a play that initially looked to be incomplete but was challenged and overturned when replays showed Maclin did catch the football.

All of this came with Maclin playing against his old teammate in Jackson.

Jackson did haul in an 81-yard reception, a typical Jackson beauty in which he just took the top off the defense. But he disappeared for large stretches of the game, as was his trademark in Philadelphia.

Not Maclin, though. He outperformed Jackson for the game—Maclin caught eight passes for 154 and a score, while Jackson finished with five for 117. And don’t forget Maclin had an 80-yard screen pass touchdown that was negated by a Jason Kelce block in the back penalty.

Per CSNPhilly.com's Reuben Frank, Maclin said, “I thought I had a favorable matchup today, and that’s just how the game went. I think today we just hit. I think the previous two weeks, there were some plays we just didn’t hit, but that’s football, but I think the most important stat right now is that we’re 3-0.”

Per Frank, Maclin is now fourth in Eagles history with five games of at least 140 receiving yards. Kelly’s offense is obviously conducive to wide receivers, as Kelly coaxed career seasons out of both Jackson and Cooper last year. Now it looks like he’s doing the same with Maclin.

Much of Nick Foles’ success a year ago came on the deep ball. Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics grades Foles as arguably the league’s most efficient quarterback when throwing 20-plus-yard passes. Foles tossed 14 touchdowns to just one interception in 2013, but the most telling statistic was the fact that he threw a deep ball on 17.4 percent of his pass attempts. That’s the highest percentage in the league.

Without Jackson, that number had to drop off, right? The script for 2014 looked to be dump-offs to McCoy and Sproles, with an occasional deep pass to Maclin or Cooper.

Remarkably, though, Foles is throwing a greater percentage of deep balls this year without Jackson. Foles has dialed up the deep ball on 21.0 percent of his passes, which is nearly 4 percent higher than last year’s total. There’s no way that percent would be as high as it is without Maclin, who is the only NFL receiver to have been targeted at least 10 times in every game this season.

A full 35 percent of Maclin’s targets have been on deep balls this season; that’s actually a greater percentage than ’13 Jackson (27.7 percent) or ’14 Jackson (14.3 percent).

That seems to be proof that Maclin is fully healthy following last year’s injury. The NFL record for most receiving yards by a player in a year after he had none is Victor Cruz, who put up 1,536 in 2011. It’s a long shot for Maclin to sustain his success and reach that mark, but then again, Kelly’s offense is a high-powered explosive unit and Maclin is on pace for 1,579.

Maclin’s production has been vital to the 2014 Eagles, and he is playing well enough that expectations will be high for this team to make a deep postseason run come January.