Jeremy Maclin’s 2011 Season Inside the Numbers 

Maclin could go off on the Vikings.

Jeremy Maclin‘s 2011 season got off on the wrong foot due to a mysterious illness during the preseason, and shoulder and hamstring issues early in the second half of the season kept him from getting on track. Still he had 63 receptions for 859 yards and five touchdowns, giving him higher catch and touchdown totals that fellow Eagles’ wide receiver DeSean Jackson despite playing two fewer games.

Maclin has reportedly added some weight this offseason, and there has been a lot of buzz throughout the Eagles’ organization that he is ready for a breakout season in 2012.

Let’s breakdown Maclin’s 2011 season, and then look to project his fantasy value for this coming season.

As could have been expected due to his preseason illness, Maclin had a slow start to the season with just one catch for 20 yards against the St. Louis Rams in Week 1. But he followed that up with five consecutive games with at least five receptions, highlighted by two 100-yard games (Week 2 against the Atlanta Falcons-13 receptions for 171 yards and two touchdowns; five receptions for 101 yards against the Washington Redskins in Week 6) prior to Philadelphia’s Week 7 bye.

Coming out of the Eagles’ bye, Maclin had three catches for 54 yards and a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8 and followed that up with four receptions for 63 yards against the Chicago Bears in Week 9 to continue his solid production. But a two-catch, six yard game against the Arizona Cardinals, in which he had to leave the game multiple times with shoulder and hamstring issues, would serve to derail Maclin’s season.

Maclin missed the subsequent three games from Week 11-Week 13 with the injuries suffered against Arizona, including what would be diagnosed as a Grade 2 separation of his right shoulder, and then had just one catch for 13 yards in his first game back against the Miami Dolphins in Week 14. Maclin was a bit healthier in Week 15 against the New York Jets, and his production improved a little as he had three receptions for 57 yards against a tough secondary.

Maclin had his second productive game of the season against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 16 with five catches for 72 yards and a touchdown, then finished the season with his third 100-yard game as he had eight receptions for 105 yard against the Washington Redskins.

A solid start and a strong final two games of 2011, along with the hype coming from his teammates and coaches up to this point, has created a lot of optimism about how Maclin will perform in 2012. Production along the lines of his 2010 campaign when he played all 16 games and had 70 receptions for 964 yards and 10 touchdowns, is not out of the question but I project closer to 80 receptions for over 1,000 yards and 7-10 touchdowns for Maclin this season. Those kind of numbers would make him a worthy WR2 in all fantasy formats, and one that can likely be gotten at a discount on draft day at that. He also offers better consistency than his teammate Jackson, which should not be discounted by fantasy football owners looking to draft an Eagles’ wide receiver.

About the author: Brad Berreman

Brad has contributed to many sports-related websites for the last eight years, covering predominantly fantasy sports (football and baseball), the NFL and MLB. Some of the websites where his work has been or is currently featured include KFFL.com, Rotowire.com, Bruno Boys Fantasy Football and Tree.com. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @bradberreman24.