I could tell from the start of practice that the scientists, Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg had been in the lab drawing up new plays for their 1st round rookie.
The things they had Maclin doing made plenty of sense. He had lined up exclusively at the X or split end position during the first mini camp. He ran some plays out of the slot today.
The youngster said they're asking to learn the other spots as well.
They had him running all types of routes but he looked especially good running delay crossing routes. Maclin ran this route out of the slot.
He knows to be patient and let his teammates take the defenders deep them he comes across on a shallow route just beyond the line of scrimmage.
Bingo. the quarterback flips him the ball and he's got the ball in his hands with one defender to beat and plenty of open field.
He also looked good running the get open option routes where he's running a short route and has to option of going inside or outside depending on what the defender is trying to take away.
Maclin gave the defender the impression that he was going inside then rolled back outside like he had been running the route for five or six years. This kid never seems to panic or get anxious about what he's doing.
You could see by his fluidity in those routes, that he's used to running them. Missouris ran versions of some of these routes. It's one of the reasons that it makes so much sense for the Birds to put him in position to run them.
Maclin is crisp and decisive about his every movement.
He's got a ways to go on those intermediate routes which he's not used to running. On one play it was Andy Reid correcting him, on another it was offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, on another it was wide receiver coach David Culley.
They've been on Maclin about gliding during his routes. They tell to make sure he continues to pump his arms when he's running his routes.
Maclin says they told him that you don't run as fast when you're not pumping your arms.
He's learning and learning fast because that is what Andy is demanding.
The staff is doing what they usually do with the rooks but this year there seems to be more of an emphasis on getting these youngsters ready.
Drawing up plays for them this early is unusual for the Eagles but I think it's a good idea.
