Maclin becoming Mr. Reliable for Chiefs
By DAVID MERRILL Sports Editor
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Jeremy Maclin heads upfield after catching a screen pass during training camp on Saturday in St. Joseph.
It didn’t take long to figure out the Kansas City Chiefs were trying to keep things simple to open up training camp.
Screen passes and a bevy of short-to-medium routes dominated the Day 1 schedule at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.
Rain and lightning forced activities indoors on Day 2, allowing the quarterbacks to throw some deeper passes before the defense donned pads and dialed up the pressure on Monday.
As was expected, Jeremy Maclin — who will be entering his eighth season in the league and his second with the Chiefs — got more than his fair share of the looks.
Maclin is by far the team’s most experience receiver (only Mike Williams, in his sixth season out of Syracuse comes close), so even he knows that the seemingly simple routes like screens don’t always come easy.
“You’d like to think they are easy (to execute), but this is the National Football League,” he said. “Those D-linemen’s football IQ is in zone 100, so they have the tendency to sniff those things out, same with the halfback screen, so I don’t think it’s easy.”
Another big component to Maclin’s game is being someone that the quarterback can rely on in practice and in games.
“It’s just all about being reliable and being accountable,” Maclin said. “Any time Alex (Smith) calls our number and throws the ball our way, just be there for him. There’s nothing else that goes into it. Being reliable is running the route at the correct depth, catching the football, being there when you need to be there, and taking the defender out of the picture.”
Maclin tore his ACL in a 2013 practice that sidelined him for the year. He was set to be a focal point in the up-tempo, spread offense under Philadelphia Eagles’ Head Coach Chip Kelly, so this was considered a major setback.
The Eagles went on to make the playoffs anyway and Maclin bounced back with his first 1,000-yard season in 2014. He also had a career-high 1,318 receiving yards and tied his career high in touchdowns with 10.
It didn’t help Philadelphia make the playoffs, however, and Maclin took his hot hands to Kansas City to reunite with Andy Reid, his former Eagles coach.
The main goal with bringing Maclin on board, it seemed, was to revive a passing attack that was 29th in touchdown receptions in 2014 with 18, and none of those went to wide receivers Running back Jamaal Charles and tight end Travis Kelce shared the team lead with five.
If last season were any indication, it worked.
Maclin posted nearly identical stats to his final year in Philadelphia, as he surpassed the 1,000-yard receiving mark and hauled in eight touchdowns en route to the Chiefs’ first playoff win since 1993.
Maclin, one of just two native Missourians on the team along with running back Trey Millard, has been a Top-20 receiver in both yards and touchdowns the past two seasons.
Whether it’s deep routes or screens, his reliability and veteran leadership have him set up for another big season.
