Wide Receiver Options to Replace Maclin

I will be honest, I was starting to get down in the dumps on the lack of offensive weapons available to the Eagles after word came out about the Maclin deal. 

“@PhillySportsJD: @BrianDawkins was patient after Jackson, cautious after McCoy, nervous after Maclin. a lot of talent. #Eagles.” >no doubt

— Brian Dawkins (@BrianDawkins) March 9, 2015

But after sleeping on it, I am starting to feel better.

Everyone knows about the trend in the NFL to devalue the running back position. But a more subtle trend, at least among some of the elite teams in the NFL, is to also devalue the wide receiver position.

The Patriots starting wide receivers this year when they won the Super Bowl were Julian Edelman, Brandon LaFell and Danny Amendola.

The Steelers have been notorious about letting playmaking wide receivers leave in the midst of their prime. They replaced Plaxico Burress with Santonio Holmes, who was replaced by Mike Wallace, who was replaced by Antonio Brown.  With Brown, Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton, the Pittsburgh Steelers ranked second in the NFL in total receiving yards.

The New Orleans Saints have used the likes of Marques Colston, Robert Meachem, and Kenny Stills (who took over for Lance Moore).

The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl with Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin, and Jermaine Kearse as their top guys, lost Tate in the offseason, traded Percy Harvin mid-season, and still made it back to the Super Bowl.

So should Eagles fans be worried about losing Maclin? Or are the Eagles adopting an approach used by other teams which devalues the wide receiver position (and for some of these teams, the running back position as well), in favor of investing in the quarterback, offensive and defensive lines, and the secondary?

Before answering that question: check out these stats. Two of these players are Jackson and Maclin, without including their one season in Chip Kelly’s system. The rest are impending free agent wide receivers that the Eagles could sign:

Player A is Jeremy Maclin.

Player B is DeSean Jackson

Player C is Michael Crabtree

Player D is Nate Washington

Player E is Cecil Shorts

Player F is Torrey Smith (reports have him signing with San Francisco, but now reports are emerging that the 49ers are bracing for Smith changing his mind given the recent loss of key players).

Across the board, these numbers are pretty close. It wasn’t until Maclin and Jackson got into Chip Kelly’s high octane, space creating offense that they outpaced their career averages by a long shot:

 To put these numbers in perspective, Jackson and Maclin had career best in yards, touchdowns and receptions in Chip Kelly’s system.

Now, does that automatically mean that if we sign a combination of say, Cecil Shorts and Michael Crabtree, that they will have similar success? No. The sample size for Jackson and Maclin is too small to draw any concrete conclusions.

But there is something to be said about the Eagles offense having the ability to create space for wide receivers to operate. And there is something to be said about the fact that other, elite NFL teams do just fine without stud wide receivers.