Next Wednesday and Thursday the Eagles will have a two day rookie camp to begin the process of getting their first year players up to speed.
The rookies will get upclose and detailed instruction on what they'll need to do to get on the field for the Eagles.
Rookie wide receiver Jeremy Maclin willl be working on his pass routes with Birds wide receiver coach David Culley.
Maclin ran short routes; hitches, quick screens and quick outs; along with deep routes; go routes, fades, deep corners and posts in college while playing in the spread offense.
He hasn't had to run 12 and 15 yard slants, curls, hooks, digs, corners and trails. These must be run at the precise depth and angle asked for by the specific play because the routes of the other receivers are designed to work together with his routes.
Remember that DeSean Jackson got some work with Jerry Rice who was the greatest receiver to ever line up in the west coast offense. Rice taught Jackson how to be under control while running his routes so that he could be precise.
He also told him to only use his top speed at the end of the route, when he had to have it. Changing speeds and being under control is much like pitching in baseball. You mix things up to keep your opponent guessing.
The west coast offense is based on timing and precision. Often the pass patterns are targeted at a certain weakness in the defense.
If it's a zone coverage, you might have receivers coming from different sides of the formation and designed to get to a certain area at the same time and put a specific defensive player in a can't win situation. They call it flooding the zone.
The receivers have to arrive at the same time and be in exactly the right position. For instance you could have a player running in front of a linebacker and another in back of the same linebacker.
If he comes up to get the underneath receiver, the quarterback will throw the ball to the deep guy. If he takes away the deep throw, the quarterback will hit the underneath receiver. The defender can't be right.
Likewise versus man to man coverage, the west coast offense utilizes pick or rub plays where a receiver intentionally bumps a defensive player who is covering another receiver but makes it look like it happened by accident.
The timing and depth of the receivers has to be nearly perfect for it to work.
Reading coverages is another ability needed by NFL wide receivers. You have to be able to read a zone and man to man, plus you must do it in your first two or three steps off of the line of scrimmage.
Maclin has to learn how to be precise in his routes. If a play requires him to run the route 12 yards then he must run it exactly 12 yards. It can't be close to that, it must be exactly that.
I could see that he has the speed to come off the line and threaten the defensive backs deep. This forces a defensive back to get out of his back pedal and that makes him vulnerable to intemediate routes. Speed opens up underneath areas and that's why it is so important.
Jackson is excellent at this and he's getting better. He gets to top speed in two or three steps. He ran a couple against Asante Samuel, who plays the comeback routes better anybody I've ever seen, at the first mini camp and forced Asante to come out of his back pedal.
Maclin could learn a lot from Jackson, who has a tremendous football acumen.
Maclin has a longer stride than Jackson, so defenders will have more trouble judging just how fast he is going. Mike Quick was a long strider much like Maclin and would a good tutor for the young receiver because he was adept at changing speeds and setting up defenders.
Maclin will work on getting a release against bump and run.
He can help the Birds immensely in this area because he's bigger than Jackson and Kevin Curtis and could pose a problem for defenses who try to move up into a bump and run to beat up on the Eagles smallish wide outs.
This youngster has the raw natural ability to be a great player but the instruction he receives starting next week will be extremely important.
