Maclin certainly isn't helping himself with all this missed time.


Adam Schefter is reporting via Twitter that after speaking with some people in the Eagles organization, he believes the deal could be done within 72 hours.

"Good news Philly: After talking more with Eagles, deal for WR Jeremy Maclin is closer than (I) thought. I predict one within 72 hours - mayb..."

Good news? Am I the only one who does not see this as "good news?"

It's certainly not good news that this will take perhaps another three days, leaving him to come back Wednesday and only get about a week and a half of training camp under his belt heading into his rookie season. Training camp is unbelievably important, and three days is better than nothing, but he should be in there right now. He's already missed too much time.

This has also been the report since the beginning of camp. Even before camp there was a report (some crazy people telling us that he already signed) that he had signed a 6-year, $23 million deal. Obviously, that was not the case and those people had some faulty sources (Thank you, very much "The Columns," a Mizzou blog).

Everyone keeps saying he'll sign within the next 24 hours, he'll sign in the next 72 hours, and everything in between. But, obviously, that has yet to happen.

If I had to guess, I would guess that it's the length and probably the incentives that are holding this deal up. The number 20 and the number 17 picks are signed, so it shouldn't be real difficult to figure out where Maclin's numbers should be. Also, don't forget that he's the last Eagles rookie, so they have limited money for him anyway.

Given those facts, it's easy to figure that it's things like the length and incentives. The Eagles probably want him to sign a five or six-year deal, but Maclin probably only wants a three or four-year deal because he's seen how the Eagles operate and figures that he'll outperform his contract very soon (which is a good thing for Philly).

Something tells me that we still have a few days of this back and forth reporting to deal with, and that when it finally does get settled we'll learn that it was over a year difference, or a couple thousand difference in incentives.