How Will the Philadelphia Eagles Replace Jeremy Maclin in 2015?

Although free agency will not officially start until 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, the Philadelphia Eagles have already lost wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, per ESPN's Chris Mortensen, who reported that Maclin will be reuniting with head coach Andy Reid in Kansas City. 

Maclin, who set career highs with 85 catches for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns during his only year in head coach Chip Kelly's offense last season, becomes the third Eagles Pro Bowl player in the last calendar year to leave the team—wide receiver DeSean Jackson was released last March, while running back LeSean McCoy was traded to the Buffalo Bills last week. 

Give the Eagles credit for trying to keep Maclin, as CBSSports.com's Jason La Canfora reported that the Eagles were fighting to lock up their 2009 first-round pick even after he agreed to terms with the Chiefs. 

So with Maclin gone, the Eagles have three wide receivers on their depth chart currently under contract. They are Jordan Matthews, Riley Cooper and Josh Huff, and to be blunt, they're a very uninspiring trio.

Matthews, a second-round pick in 2014, turned in a promising rookie season as the team's slot receiver, but Cooper fell flat on his face in his first year after signing a five-year contract extension.

Meanwhile, Huff showed brief flashes of potential, but more as a returner than a receiver, and he struggled with drops and fumbles. 

Player	Catches	Yards	Touchdowns	Drops
Jeremy Maclin	85	1318	10	1
Jordan Matthews	67	876	8	5
Riley Cooper	55	573	3	3
Josh Huff	8	98	0	4

With free agency starting on Tuesday, the Eagles have a number of names they can pursue, including Michael Crabtree, Hakeem Nicks, Andre Johnson, Kenny Britt, Cecil Shorts and, most likely, Dwayne Bowe, who is expected to be released soon, per NFL.com's Ian Rapoport.

Each player is available for a reason, whether it's age, injuries or lack of productivity, but if Kelly's system has shown one thing, it's that he's not going to pay for premium talent when he thinks he can duplicate it with the players he already has. 

The expectation here is that Kelly will look to add a low-risk, high-reward option like Bowe or Nicks. The fanbase will dislike the signing because the player has injury issues or just isn't that good, and then he'll finish the season with 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns—that's Chip Kelly for you. He's both extremely confident and extremely egotistical, and he's convinced that he can make things work in his own unique way. 

Kelly can also look ahead to the 2015 draft, in which, pending a potential trade for Heisman quarterback Marcus Mariota, the Eagles will have eight picks, including two in the fourth round.

Although top receiver prospects like Amari Cooper and Kevin White will certainly be off the board by the time the Eagles pick 20th overall, Kelly could look to add a player like Jaelen Strong in the first round, Devin Funchess in the second, Tyler Lockett in the third or Justin Hardy in the fourth. 

With Maclin playing the 2014 season on just a one-year, $5.25 million deal after an ACL tear cost him all of the 2013 season, Kelly prepared for the future by selecting not one but two wide receivers early in the 2014 draft.

One, Matthews, came through with an impressive rookie season, although he was overshadowed by what should go down as the greatest rookie wide receiver class in NFL history.

The other, Huff, is a hand-picked Kelly guy who has the skill set for a breakout year in 2015, especially if his head coach finds a way to reunite him with his college quarterback, Mariota. 

With tight ends Zach Ertz and Brent Celek already on the roster, plus running back Darren Sproles and whatever options the Eagles choose to add via free agency and/or the draft, this team's passing game will be just fine. There may not be a 1,300-yard receiver for the third straight season, but it's unlikely that Maclin ever comes close to those numbers again now that he's playing in a different offense.

The point is that as long as Kelly is head coach for the Eagles, the scheme trumps overpaying for any particular player. He has proven that by moving on from DeSean Jackson, then LeSean McCoy and now Jeremy Maclin.