Jeremy Maclin

Little morsels of information have been leaking out of the NovaCare Complex since Chip Kelly held his first practices with the Eagles last month, all of which were closed to the media. Running back LeSean McCoy said the first three-day minicamp felt like a track meet. Tight end Brent Celek said Kelly's method of communication would change the NFL. Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin revealed that Michael Vick was ahead of Nick Foles in the quarterback competition. It's what they in the entertainment business call "a soft opening.

NEW COACH Chip Kelly has touted an even competition between Michael Vick and Nick Foles for the Eagles' starting quarterback position, but given the reworked 1-year, $10 million contract the Birds gave Vick, most of us figure he is likely to emerge as the starter. That's pretty much what receiver Jeremy Maclin thinks, as well. Maclin was asked yesterday, if he had to guess, who will be No. 1? "Right now, you've got Mike going with the 'ones' and Nick sprinkling in some reps here and there, so . . . " Maclin said at his Lincoln Financial Field charity event honoring five moms of kids he met through his summer football camp in West Deptford, N.J., where Maclin lives.

Poor Donovan McNabb. After one season with the best wide-receiving tandem he had as an Eagle, he gets traded to the Washington Redskins. Kevin Kolb will be the beneficiary of what has the potential to the top wide-receiver twosome in Eagles history. DeSean Jackson was a star from the start. Injuries made him the first rookie receiver to start a season opener under Andy Reid, but Jackson's six catches for 106 yards against the St. Louis Rams was a sign of things to come. Jackson set an Eagles rookie record with 62 catches and 912 receiving yards.

Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin suffered another hip pointer Sunday and is unlikely to practice Wednesday, Eagles coach Andy Reid said. Maclin has not been ruled out for this Sunday's game at Arizona. He suffered a similar injury in the opener against Cleveland but was able to play in Sunday's win against Baltimore. "I stood here last week and told you it was going to be a struggle, and then he came around," Reid said Monday. "So I'd just tell you it's day-to-day. " Maclin, whose lone catch against Baltimore was a 23-yard touchdown, told reporters after the game that this injury was more serious than the first.

ATLANTA - Jeremy Maclin had his coming out party Sunday night. The rest of the nation found out what Philadelphia has known for a year now: The Eagles wide receiver is a budding star. Yes, the Eagles already have a superstar wideout in DeSean Jackson. But on a night when Jackson was held in check, Maclin carried the pass-catchers - until the bitter end. Unfortunately, his effort was all for naught as the Eagles fell to the Falcons, 35-31, at the Georgia Dome, and when the team needed him most Maclin couldn't hold onto a Mike Kafka throw over the middle on fourth down with less than two minutes remaining.

Jeremy Maclin sat in a room at Benjamin Franklin High School on Tuesday morning, helping students with a financial education computer game that uses a football simulation to teach lessons about money. The Eagles wide receiver coached half of the class, a group representing his team, and picked run or pass plays of various difficulties. A multiple-choice question about finances appeared on the screen, and a correct answer produced a successful play. With the play-calling at his whim, Maclin requested some running plays for his students.

Like birds that headed south for winter, the Eagles' offensive skill players are slowly migrating back to the Philadelphia area. Instead of gathering at the NovaCare Complex, however, they're assembling in Cherry Hill at ever-popular Power Train Sports. Quarterback Michael Vick and wide receiver Jeremy Maclin are the latest to enlist trainer Steve Saunders in their offseason workouts, joining tight end Brent Celek and a handful of other Eagles. Running back LeSean McCoy will join the flock next week.

Jeremy Maclin played the complete game Sunday in Tampa, Fla., without injury and caught the game-winning touchdown on the final play against the Buccaneers. So when the Eagles wide receiver was listed on Monday with a groin injury there were more than a few arched eyebrows. On Tuesday, Maclin was asked if he was injured on the last-second touchdown pass from Nick Foles. "That is kind of what did it," he answered. Was it sliding for the catch or running back out to midfield to celebrate?

The two fumbled punts were concern enough for Eagles special-teams coordinator Ted Daisher to pull his rookie returner, Jeremy Maclin, aside for a meeting Saturday. Daisher has seen young, electric returners struggle initially but prosper later, like Cleveland's Josh Cribbs. Yes, there is a learning process. But Daisher needed to set the record straight with Maclin right away. "You can't make a big play every time you touch the ball," Maclin recalled Daisher saying. "Sometimes you have to do the right thing.

On Sunday, Jeremy Maclin became the eighth wide receiver in NFL history to amass at least 55 catches and 750 yards in each of his first four seasons, joining Gary Clark, Larry Fitzgerald, Joey Galloway, Marvin Harrison, Keyshawn Johnson, Sterling Sharpe and Randy Moss. As impressive as that sounds - and it is noteworthy - Maclin is last among the eight in total catches (253) and yards (3,420) over that span. While his consistency over the first four years of his career is commendable, Maclin has yet to have the breakout season many thought he was capable of after his first two seasons.

DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin have spent their careers playing under the same head coach, offensive coordinator, and position coach. They have started together for four seasons, but the offense they're learning now under coach Chip Kelly is considerably different from what they've done in the past. Among the changes: how they receive the play and how they run their routes. Instead of going to the huddle to hear the play from the quarterback, they get directions signaled from the sideline.

Part Two of a Series The Eagles are amid their first organized team activities this week, and they will practice throughout the next four weeks. After those practices, Chip Kelly will have a better idea of the Eagles roster. But there's a lot that will happen between now and then. To get you up to date, The Inquirer is spending two weeks assessing where the Eagles stand at each spot. Jeff McLane started on Monday with offensive line. Here are wide receivers: Projected current first team WR1: Jeremy Maclin (6-foot-0, 198 pounds, age 25, 5th season)

IT LOOKED like a gaggle of third-base coaches relaying signs to a batter. Three Eagles' staffers, along with wideout Ifeanyi Momah, who had the day off from practice after going hard all weekend in rookie camp, waggled fingers behind their heads, tapped their arms, and carved designs in the air. As the offensive players on the field regrouped from the play they'd just run, every head turned to the sideline. Everyone seemed to be getting his assignment this way; no one huddled, and the players lined up within 10 seconds or less to snap the ball again.

Little morsels of information have been leaking out of the NovaCare Complex since Chip Kelly held his first practices with the Eagles last month, all of which were closed to the media. Running back LeSean McCoy said the first three-day minicamp felt like a track meet. Tight end Brent Celek said Kelly's method of communication would change the NFL. Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin revealed that Michael Vick was ahead of Nick Foles in the quarterback competition. It's what they in the entertainment business call "a soft opening.

Asked last month who was ahead at quarterback on the Eagles' depth chart, Chip Kelly said the competition was "even" between Michael Vick and Nick Foles. He even threw Dennis Dixon into the mix, and said that the former Oregon quarterback took snaps with the first team during a three-day minicamp. But Jeremy Maclin shed some more light on the battle when he was asked who he thought would ultimately be the Eagles' starting quarterback. "Right now, you've got Mike going with the ones and Nick 'sprinkled in,' some reps here and there," the wide receiver said Thursday.

NEW COACH Chip Kelly has touted an even competition between Michael Vick and Nick Foles for the Eagles' starting quarterback position, but given the reworked 1-year, $10 million contract the Birds gave Vick, most of us figure he is likely to emerge as the starter. That's pretty much what receiver Jeremy Maclin thinks, as well. Maclin was asked yesterday, if he had to guess, who will be No. 1? "Right now, you've got Mike going with the 'ones' and Nick sprinkling in some reps here and there, so . . . " Maclin said at his Lincoln Financial Field charity event honoring five moms of kids he met through his summer football camp in West Deptford, N.J., where Maclin lives.

GRADING the draft 10 days after it ends is truly mission impossible. Virtually all of the experts agree that it takes at least 3 years before you can get an accurate reading. Nonetheless, we all do it. Chip Kelly's first draft as Eagles coach got generally good marks - I give it a solid B, a grade made more credible by the fact that it was the same as that given by the great Ray Didinger. There were a few naysaying analysts who opined that Kelly's strategy of picking the highest-rated player on the board resulted in us ignoring the greatest need: defense.

MICHAEL VICK indicated Wednesday he has no problem with Chip Kelly saying Vick and Nick Foles are engaged in an even competition for the Eagles' starting quarterback job. The problem might lie in getting Vick to believe he could ever lose such a contest, after 3 years as the starter here. "Honestly, I just look at it as it's still my team, still my job," Vick said during a session with reporters following the second day of the extra minicamp granted new NFL coaches. "I think that's the mind-set that you've got to have.

The Eagles added to their offseason haul by acquiring wide receiver Arrelious Benn in a trade with the Buccaneers on Friday. They gave up their sixth-round draft pick and a conditional pick in 2014 in exchange for the 24-year-old Benn and a seventh-round selection this year from Tampa Bay. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Benn was taken in the second round of the 2010 draft out of Illinois. He has been a disappointment as a receiver, and in three seasons tallied only 59 catches for 862 yards and five touchdowns.