Written by: Bob Cunningham of 2minutestomidnightgreen.com

In the spread offense, a receiver is always running a route and nothing else. Very rarely are they ever asked to block, or even read a defense. The route is called, and they run it blindly like a path was drawn for them on the field.

In the west coast offense, however, there is much more to the receiver position. They are asked to block regularly, and are expected to be able to read a defense on the fly. For a guy who has never been asked to do this, it can be a very difficult transition.

Enter Jeremy Maclin.

Maclin thrived in the spread offense, as most receivers do. It’s an easy job as they simply run the route and a strong-armed quarterback hurls the ball at them hoping for the best. But for the same reason that a quarterback running the spread offense does not usually fare well in the NFL, a receiver may not bring his college success to the NFL.

Look at some of the best spread quarterbacks over the past couple of years. Chase Daniels went undrafted, as did Graham Harrell. Colt Brennan got drafted, but only in the fifth round. The quarterback who set nearly every NCAA passing record possible falls all the way to the fifth round and is now backing up a guy who Washington has repeatedly tried to replace.

Why?

Because they do not know how to read a defense.

In the west coast, the receiver must be able to differentiate between zone and man coverage in a split-second. In fact, if the receiver reads the defense after the ball is snapped, they’re already behind. They must know before the snap that it is man coverage, so the corner will follow him, or if it’s zone coverage, he must quickly diagnose the zone, find the soft spot, sit and wait for the pass that may already be in the air, coming in his direction. In other words, rookies rarely get thrown out on to the field without a solid grasp of how the play will develop- which makes DeSean Jackson’s rookie season that much more impressive.

Let’s not forget blocking. The Eagles ask their receivers to do a lot of it on screens and swings to Brian Westbrook. If he gets Westbrook killed in Sheldon Brown-Reggie Bush fashion, he won’t be seeing much of the field.

With all the speed and athleticism that Maclin possesses, reading defenses and blocking does not come naturally and certainly takes a lot of work. While classroom sessions and memorizing the playbook is a step in the right direction, there is no replacement for on-the-field training with your teammates and coaches.

That is an experience on which Maclin is missing out.

He and his camp are holding out on signing the deal that the Eagles have offered, probably because of a discrepancy regarding the length of the contract, or the incentives tied to the contract. Considering that the Eagles have their other seven picks under contract and only have a certain amount left in their rookie pool, it’s fair to assess that there’s not much of a debate in the actual base salary.

However, no matter the aspect of the contract keeping him out of camp, the bottom line is that he’s not in Lehigh where he belongs, and it will cause problems for him and for the Eagles the longer this goes on.

According to Adam Schefter, a deal is expected within 72 hours, which would still leave him with about a week and a half of camp and the entire preseason before his rookie year is officially under way. The word on Maclin is that he’s a smart kid, and he backed that up with having one of the highest Wonderlic scores at the combine, so he shouldn’t have too hard of a time making up for the lost time in training camp.

However, he will have to make up for that time which could spill over into the regular season, cutting down on his production for the first couple of weeks.

Producing as a rookie is difficult enough, but by holding out he’s only making things more difficult on himself and in Philly that’s not a good idea.