Maclin's future success depends on this camp.


Training camp for rookies and selected veterans opened today, and Maclin is still without a deal.

Right now, it's 1:22PM EST, just under three hours before the team gets together tonight at 4PM. I'm not exactly sure what the holdup is, but at this moment Maclin is without a deal, and without any real reason to bother showing up to camp until he does.

Showing up to camp without a deal just wouldn't make any sense. If on the first pattern he runs he falls over, tearing his knee and ending his career, the Eagles have no financial obligation to him.

So my bet is that he'll stay away from camp until there is a contract written up and his John Hancock is on that dotted line.

A holdout from Maclin, of course, is the last thing that the Eagles want, and really the last thing that Maclin wants. I expected a deal to be done by Thursday to avoid this, but now I am expecting that the Eagles will have this done sometime in the next two hours. He can't afford to miss any time in what is already going to be a difficult transition.

Training camp is the most important time of the year. It sets up the chemistry and the timing of the team, while also showing the young players just how fast the game is here in the NFL.

Not having Maclin in camp would be a bad way to start the most important time of the year, and I don't see the Eagles allowing that to happen.

Details of the contract will be posted when the information is available.