Eagles WR coach believes Makai Lemon has ‘done a great job’ despite a slow start to his career
Lemon missed nearly three weeks of camp with a hamstring injury. Wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead believes "getting on the same page with everybody" will help the rookie's adjustment to the NFL.
It has not been an ideal summer for Makai Lemon.
He had a quiet OTAs. He missed the majority of training camp. Then, when he finally played in the Eagles’ final preseason game, he struggled, recording just 3 yards on three catches and a drop that led to an interception.
Time to hit the panic button? The Eagles certainly aren’t.
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“He’s done a good job,” said wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead. “I mean, Makai, like any rookie, is going to have things that [they do] really well and things that he is going to have to improve on. … You’re correcting everything, you’re praising everything, and you’re just allowing the guys to be in the best free position to go out there and play their best.”
Moorehead added that Lemon, the Eagles’ No. 20 pick in the first round of April’s draft, is still going through the motions after he missed nearly three weeks of training camp with a hamstring injury. Fellow Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith was sidelined the majority of camp too, but as Moorehead noted, it’s far easier for a veteran like Smith to ramp up than a rookie.
What’s the biggest hurdle Lemon must overcome following his injury?
“It’s really just timing,” Moorehead said. “That’s really the big thing is this timing and getting on the same page with everybody and making sure that they’re kind of pressing forward.
“With Makai, we had to come up with creative ways to get him walk-throughs and get him doing different things that he could do while he was out. He couldn’t physically run, but he could walk through things or we could talk through things, and we could have him hear it, break the huddle, and go where he needed to go, just to catch him up that way. It wasn’t the most fun thing in the world. I know he wanted to be out there and we know we all wanted him to be out there, but that’s what you do. You sacrifice your time, you sacrifice your energy to get to where you want to go. He really took it really well.”
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It’s clear the Eagles’ top brass isn’t panicking because of Lemon’s college resumé. Lemon starred at Southern Cal last season, earning unanimous All-American honors by finishing with 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns. There’s a reason the Eagles traded up in the first round with the rival Cowboys in order to pick him.
General manager Howie Roseman raved about Lemon and the rest of position group in a press conference on Monday.
“The receiver core, obviously you would’ve liked them to be together a little bit more here through the summer but have a lot of confidence in that group,” Roseman said. “I think it’s a talented group from top to bottom. All those guys, they play different roles. It starts with Smitty, who I don’t think it’s a secret how high we are on him. Tay’s [Dontayvion Wicks] exactly what we thought he would be. Obviously, prior to the regular season, going into the regular season, have tremendous confidence in Makai Lemon, Hollywood Brown. Everyone saw Coop [Darius Cooper] and the growth that he showed and development that he showed.”
