maclin17-490.jpg

Jeremy Maclin, 23, just finished his third season in the NFL, as a starting wide receiver in the Philadelphia Eagles’s vaunted offense. A two-time All American at Missouri, Maclin was selected 19th overall in the 2009 Draft. He ended the season with 63 catches for 859 yards and five touchdowns. Every week, exclusively on GQ.com, Maclin took readers behind the scenes of the Eagles’ 2011 season—and into the private, off-field life of a young NFL star. In this final post, Maclin assesses a long offseason.

So, this is my sign-off. Though we ended the season on a four game win streak, that doesn’t help us get to where we want to go—not after we started the season with a four game losing streak. So for the last two weeks, ever since the Giants beat the Jets, we played for pride. We played pretty good football, the kind of football we’re capable of playing and could have been playing all along. It’s frustrating, obviously—it’s going to be frustrating for a while. Especially after we dominated our division with a 5-1 record. We want to keep playing and we didn’t get to the point of having that opportunity. But we have nobody to blame but ourselves.

It’s a good thing that the announcement has already come out that Coach Reid will be back next season, as he should be. A team can’t struggle the way we struggled without a lot of hot air blowing over the airwaves. That is what it is. I admire the decisiveness of Mr. Lurie in the face of all that, the way he ended the conversation quickly and on his own terms. I really appreciate the confidence the front office has in our coach, which mirrors the confidence our coach has in us players. That’s the kind of foundation an organization needs, even with a long off-season ahead of us.

The offseason. It started with our exit meeting on Monday. Now guys are free to go home, wherever home is. I’m gonna stick around Philly for a while, with no particular plans except to hang out with some friends and sleep, neither of which I’ve been able to do in a good while. I’ll take about three weeks to a month off from football and heavy weights, and play some pickup basketball instead. That way I can get my body back and my feet back under me without losing fitness.