Jeremy Maclin =/= DeSean Jackson

In 2008 Philadelphia Eagles fans were treated to an explosive show every weekend from former Cal wide receiver DeSean Jackson.

Jackson was Reid’s first rookie to start on opening day, and from day one he showed every bit of the explosive playmaking ability that made him the Eagles first draft pick in the second round of the 2008 NFL draft.

In 2008 Jackson would go on to set franchise records among rookie wide receivers with 62 catches and 912 receiving yards. Jackson scored on punt returns, receiving touchdowns, and rushing the ball out of the popular wildcat formation. 

Not a bad start for a second round pick that most scouts had rated as “too small and too thin” to survive at the NFL level.  

With the seeming emergence of Jackson into a true “No. 1” receiver and the most exciting wide receiver Philadelphia has seen since Terrell Owens, the Eagles simply weren’t going to draft a wide receiver high again in 2009 right? Wrong.

Instead of trading out of the first round as the Eagles have done the past two years, the Eagles traded up two spots in the first round to pick 19 to select Missouri wide receiver, Jeremy Maclin.

Maclin, who was a projected top  pick in many mock drafts, began to slip into the teens of the 2009 draft. In an effort to make sure that a rival NFC team did not trade with Detroit Lions to take Maclin at pick 20, the Eagles leapfrogged the Lions pick and acquired pick 19 from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers through the Cleveland Browns and selected Maclin.  

With Maclin, the Eagles have added yet another explosive playmaker that can score on any snap from multiple positions as Maclin was also a return specialist at Missouri.

Looking from a purely physical standpoint, Maclin is taller and has more bulk then Jackson did coming out of college, but that does not mean he will instantly be more successful coming off his breaks or defeating press coverage.

While there are many similarities between Maclin and Jackson in terms of explosive playmaking ability, it is crucial to point out to Eagles fans everywhere that Maclin is most likely not going have the kind of breakout season that Jackson had in 2008.

When coming out of college Jackson was already further advanced in his route running skills and his route tree. The biggest knock on Jackson’s route running was that he would round off his routes instead of running more precise cuts.

Maclin has not had the same kind of experience running intermediate routes because of Missouri’s spread offense attack.

Jackson entered the league under different circumstances than Maclin with a large chip on his shoulder because of his size and where he was drafted.

Leading up to the NFL Draft, Jackson trained with future Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice who was quoted as saying Jackson was “the fastest wide receiver I have ever seen.”

“He's (Rice) let me know that if you're able to catch the ball and be competitive, pretty soon they'll forget about your size," said Jackson.

Jackson was passed over by NFL teams in the 2008 draft seven times in favor of other wide receivers. Maclin came out of school as a top 10 prospect that slipped only slightly and was still taken third overall for his position.

Just because Maclin has first round talent that does not mean he is going to see the field enough in his first year to have the impact Jackson had in 2008. Without injuries to Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown in 2008, Jackson would not have been a starter at the beginning of the season.

Injuries are common place in the NFL, but it’s unrealistic and illogical for fans to hope that an established 1,000 yard pass catcher like Curtis gets injured just to give Maclin a shot.

Maclin will get his touches in this offense; his playmaking ability will see to that, but it is important to realize that Reid and the rest of the coaching staff see the Eagles receiving corps as one of the deepest in the league. Maclin has a lot of work to do to unseat dependable role players like Hank Basket and Jason Avant.

Avant has perhaps the strongest hands on the team and has consistently been one of McNabb’s most dependable third-down targets converting 20 of his 24 career third down catches for first downs (13 of 15 catches in 2008).

Basket has been a valuable contributor hauling in a career high in catches in 2008 (33) and scoring a career high three touchdowns. Basket also is the only active player with three career catches of 85 yards or more.

It will be important to bring Maclin along slowly in the offense because Jackson was an anomaly in terms of rookie wide receivers learning and excelling at the West Coast offense. The last time the Eagles used a first round pick on a receiver, Freddie “Fred-Ex” Mitchell graced Philadelphia with the presence of a first-round draft bust.

In that very same draft in 2001 the Eagles passed on receiver Reggie Wayne out of Miami in favor of Mitchell and since then they have watched Wayne post five consecutive 1,000 yard season as he helped Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts win a Superbowl.

Now eight years later the Eagles have drafted Maclin, who is the same height and weight (6'0", 198 pounds) as Wayne, looking for him to eventually compliment Jackson the same way Wayne came to compliment Marvin Harrison.

In Wayne’s first year he caught 27 balls for 345 yards and 0 touchdowns. Expectations like that are reachable for Maclin and he could exceed them with his talent and ability to score from multiple positions.

Could Maclin end up breaking 1,000 yards this season? Anything is possible in the NFL, but he would need a lot of people in front of him to get injured. Just because Maclin was a first round pick that does not mean he will be thrown into a starting spot needlessly when the Eagles coaches believe they already have a very deep receiving corps that complement each other.

Maclin was drafted by the Eagles organization to fill a role, as Jackson was when he was first drafted. The Eagles brought Jackson in with the expectation that he would be able to help out in the return game immediately and they would take a wait and see approach with him in the receiving game. Injuries happened and Jackson was thrown into the lineup and he never looked back. Not every player can do that.

Now, one year later, the Eagles expect Maclin to come in and play a role in the return game and they will see how much he can learn and digest the playbook before making a decision on his role as a receiver for the team this season.

Jackson and Maclin were brought in by the Eagles with similar rookie expectations, but that does not mean that Maclin will have the same luck and opportunity to have the immediate impact that Jackson had in 2008.

Maclin is a great addition and another piece to a talented receiving corps but he should not be expected to make the game winning grab in the Superbowl this year just because he was the Eagles first-round pick. Not yet anyway.