Birds' Eye View

EAGLES MOVE UP FOR MACLIN

The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles

52 comments

EAGLES MOVE UP FOR MACLIN

POSTED: Saturday, April 25, 2009, 6:25 PM

Bob Brookover

The Eagles made a trade with the Cleveland Browns for a wide receiver after all, moving up two spots in order to select Missouri's Jeremy Maclin.

In order to get Maclin with the 19th pick, the Eagles dealt their first-round pick and a sixth-round selection, the 195th pick overall. He is just the second receiver the Eagles have taken in the first round during coach Andy Reid's tenure. The other was Freddie Mitchell in 2001.

Reid said the Eagles didn't expect Maclin to be available when it was their turn to make a pick.

"Actually, we thought he was going to go quite a little bit higher than he did," Reid said. "This was not who we had targeted. He just happened to be one of those guys who fell a little bit and he kind of fell into our lap there."

Maclin, 20, set a single-season school record for receptions with 102 and yards with 1,260. He also scored 13 touchdowns. In addition to his ability as a receiver, Maclin will likely take over as the Eagles' kick returner, a role he did extremely well at Missouri. His 1,346 kick return yards as a freshman were two shy of an NCAA record.

"I just love doing it," Maclin said when asked about returning kicks. "I put a lot of work and film study into it in order to be successful."

Maclin, who declared for the draft after just two seasons at Missouri, was just the third player in NCAA history to average more than 200 all-purpose yards per game.

52 comments

Comments (52)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:08 PM, 04/25/2009

Birds got McCoy from Pitt...loving it! Great draft so far

— kjuggs77

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:18 PM, 04/25/2009

Good pick. I honestly wanted Pettigrew but I'm very happy with this pick. Maclin is a bigger version of DeSean Jackson. I was surprised he fell to 19. The speed we have at WR now between Curtis, Jackson and Maclin is amazing. McCoy was also a good that I didn't expect to fall to us in the 2nd. Negadelphians won't be happy no matter what they do.

— beeron

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:01 PM, 04/25/2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzrltr66LqI Missouri fan here. Maclin has very good hands (i honestly can't think of a drop off the top of my head), and is much bigger and stronger than D. Jackson. they are not the same receiver at all. the fear with Maclin that I'd heard was durability--he played with a couple nagging minor injuries--and route-running, because he didn't get to show off the latter skills in our offense, primarily running screens, reverses, streaks, deep posts. he impressed with route running at the combine, and had the Raiders not horribly reached at 7 for Heyward-Bey, he'd have been a Raider or possibly a 49er were Crabtree not available. this is a great pick for Philly. he's a great kid, an incredibly hard worker (fought back from severe knee injury to become FASTER), and a wonderfully gifted athlete.

— TigerFace