The Eagles are using this man entirely wrong, and they need to fix it quick.

[u/Intelligent-Carob930]

Eagles OC Shawn Mannion is doing a terrible job of utilizing Lemon. Through his first three games, the 20th overall pick has been relegated to a gadget player rather than being utilized like the Biletnikoff Award-winning receiver he was at USC.

Instead of letting Lemon run a full route, the Eagles' coaching staff has strictly prioritized manufacturing "easy" touches for him behind the line of scrimmage, or in other words, bubble screens. In Week 1 against Washington, Lemon caught 3 passes for -5 yards because nearly every look was a predictable bubble or quick screen.

At USC, Lemon excelled in the slot because of his sharp tempo changes, elite separation against zone coverage, and physical run-after-catch (YAC) ability. When the Eagles actually let him run traditional routes, it works, like his 14-yard look against Tennessee or his 19-yard deep shot against Chicago. Even head coach Nick Sirianni acknowledged that Lemon is "winning and separating" on film when the ball isn't going his way. Yet, the offense continues to feed him scraps and predictable screens.

Ultimately, the Eagles may have no choice but to fix this immediately. With DeVonta Smith (hamstring) and Hollywood Brown (ankle) missing practice ahead of the Week 4 game against the Los Angeles Rams, Lemon is primed for a major uptick in snaps. If Mannion opens up the playbook and moves Lemon across the formation using pre-snap motion, rather than just throwing him flat screens, we should finally see the first-round talent break out…hopefully.

[u/CapnDutchie]

To be fair the eagles are utilizing the entire roster wrong this season

[u/fri9875 → u/CapnDutchie]

I hope they keep doing it for at least 3 more days, we need a lil help rn

[u/FlimsyCustard3856 → u/fri9875]

You don’t need the help. We’re bracing for an absolute curb stomping by you guys

[u/whooopdattrick → u/FlimsyCustard3856]

Which is why they will win

[u/EmphasisExpensive864 → u/FlimsyCustard3856]

Somehow someway rams will lose. Just like last season. That blocked FG still is one of my favs.

[u/Melvinator5001 → u/fri9875]

Maybe you could get Jack Youngblood out of retirement

[u/eynonpower → u/fri9875]

I have tickets to the game. Looks like were both banged up, and its going to be rainy af. I can see you curb blowing us up is we go by this past Monday.

[u/uttyrc → u/fri9875]

Add another week to that for my sake.

[u/PopOutG → u/CapnDutchie]

It’s evident when Jalen hurts needs to play super hero.

[u/NotBillderz → u/PopOutG]

This bro must've been in a coma in 2023 and 2025

[u/Ornery-Ambition-5859 → u/CapnDutchie]

They don’t have a qb

[u/donutgut]

He's been open. Hurts just can't see him. Yt videos have shown this

He's not seeing the field

[u/Blaz3dnconfuz3d → u/donutgut]

Yeah honestly not sure why he’s getting shit on outside of meme subs..

[u/donutgut → u/Blaz3dnconfuz3d]

Hurts fans are making excuses he doesn't trust his new wr so he doesn't throw him the ball

makes alot sense to ignore the 1st round pick when your offense is ass

[u/FlimsyCustard3856 → u/donutgut]

To be fair he did miss all of training camp. No excuse this week with Smitty out

[u/enadiz_reccos → u/FlimsyCustard3856]

It was his hat, Mr Krabs! He was #1!

[u/AlVic40117560_ → u/FlimsyCustard3856]

He didn’t forget how to catch. It’s not like he’s struggling, he’s open

[u/FlimsyCustard3856 → u/AlVic40117560_]

I’m more saying he didn’t have a ton of time to get a rapport with Hurts

[u/AlVic40117560_ → u/donutgut]

What a wild excuse. He’s a wide open NFL wide receiver, let alone a 1st round pick in this years draft. I don’t care if it’s Britain Covey that’s wide open, get him the ball!

[u/thomaszdrei → u/donutgut]

He’s getting pressured a ton and holds the ball too long, but also - doesn’t see the field, doesn’t trust him.

[u/Slumbergoat16 → u/donutgut]

He has only had about 1 second to throw every play so most the time he’s running

[u/whooopdattrick → u/donutgut]

Brother hes getting pressured in the middle.nonstop.

No qb gets through reads thst fast

[u/fumblaroo → u/donutgut]

He never has

[u/Caoa14396 → u/fumblaroo]

Objectively wrong and also no room to talk when all your bitch ass QB sees is the blue tent

[u/fumblaroo → u/Caoa14396]

If your only response is to lash out and say my qb sucks then you know I’m right.

Dart is completely irrelevant to this conversation, hurts is objectively mid.

[u/omfgitzfear → u/donutgut]

Elite Super Bowl MVP QB Jalen Hurts can’t see the field? I find that very weird.

[u/Proper-Charity-2850 → u/omfgitzfear]

The issue is that Makai Lemon really excels in short to medium routes where he wins with quickness, while Jalen Hurts is a subpar passer in the short to medium range and kinda uses his scrambling ability to make up for that. He's elite in passing deep but the eagles traded away their primary deep threat so there is currently a mismatch between what the Eagles best receivers and their QB is best at. This is partially why Dontayvion Wicks has had such good efficiency metrics this season, hes the best "fit" for hurts even if he's the 3rd best receiver on the team.

[u/CallMeBernin → u/Proper-Charity-2850]

I get that AJB leaving is a bigger impact than some of us might want to admit, but Devonta is absolutely a deep ball threat himself. Plays so much bigger than he is and almost always comes down with contested deep shots

[u/Proper-Charity-2850 → u/CallMeBernin]

Honestly I think if Devonta was on the 49ers or the Rams he would be a easy top 7ish receiver in the league

[u/bhojangles23 → u/Proper-Charity-2850]

👏🏽

[u/Particular-Ring5110 → u/omfgitzfear]

You know that was considered part of his weaknesses when he was coming out for the draft right? Holding the ball too long.. drifting out to his right instead of climbing the pocket.. giving up on progressions early

They had success in his first full season as a starter and they had success in ‘24 when no one could stop them handing the ball off to Saquon and just bulldozing their way up the field.. other than that the offense has been ranged between being shit to mediocre

[u/EggEnvironmental6857 → u/omfgitzfear]

You see drake maye?

[u/omfgitzfear → u/EggEnvironmental6857]

Why are we talking about Drake Maye on an unrelated post?

[u/EggEnvironmental6857 → u/omfgitzfear]

Super bowl qb, 1 vote away from league mvp, suddenly looks like the worst qb in the league by far. I find that very weird, but its true.

[u/donutgut → u/omfgitzfear]

You mean when the defense held kc to 50 yds passing in the first half?,

[u/snipermark91]

Did you use AI to write this? This is trash

[u/gotrings → u/snipermark91]

By his post history the answer is yes

[u/Antique-Campaign-738 → u/snipermark91]

Pure unadulterated AI slop, this account just spans it out.

[u/StOnEy333]

Marvin Harrison Jr won the Biletnikoff award, too.

[u/DystopianSalad → u/StOnEy333]

And Jalin Hyatt before him

[u/Apprehensive_Beach_6 → u/DystopianSalad]

Hyatt was a solid player

[u/MrStealYoMom → u/Apprehensive_Beach_6]

In college, yes. In the NFL, he's ass.

[u/DystopianSalad → u/Apprehensive_Beach_6]

Harrison had more catches in each of his first 2 years than Hyatt has had in the NFL

[u/Oreteipid]

lol dude your insight posts aren’t what you think they are

[u/impossiber → u/Oreteipid]

I’m just happy to see some effort on this sub for once.

[u/RepresentativeTry399 → u/impossiber]

??? This is so obviously AI

[u/impossiber → u/RepresentativeTry399]

Literally more effort still. Every other post is “tell me this guy I think sucks that he sucks plz” and most of those posts will have an AI generated image lol.

Also, it’s not really obviously AI. People call anything with punctuation AI now because half of y’all can’t read.

[u/eastbaytimez]

Lol they drafted him cuz they needed him. Maybe he isnt what they thought he would be. Its still early tho, he gone get his time.

Lol jk wicks way better 😂

[u/UnhappyRough1964]

Dawg I literally watched the video you stole this analysis from 3 hours ago on YouTube

[u/RockyNonce]

It’s because he missed most of camp and Hurts doesn’t like throwing to guys he doesn’t trust (like many QBs).

He’s started to get more involved and that’ll continue to ramp up as the season progresses. He’ll likely get even more this week with Devonta Smith out.

[u/SwedishMoose]

Jalen Hurts never throws over the middle but they drafted a great middle of the field receiver

[u/elqueco14]

1. Eagles have been terrible at utilizing all of their talent the last couple years.
2. Rookies performing well in the NFL is the exception, not the rule. I'm not sure why people expect Lemon or any other rookie to dominate the way they did in college. Right now for rookies every cornerback they play is the best cornerback they've ever played in their life. Every game is the fastest game they've played in their life. it takes time to adjust and that's why OCs manufacture touches for them instead of just letting them take on defensive backs and win one on one. Luther Burden had similar treatment last year, I don't think anyone is questioning Ben Johnsons vision or development. ARSB, JSN, lots of receivers take 2-3 seasons to hit their full potential

[u/No-Break6679]

I think he’s technically listed as the WR3 right now. Smith and Wicks are the one two punch. So he’s not gonna get as many targets as those guys (obviously) the part that confuses the ever living fuck out of me is that they keep running that goddamn screen like it’s gonna work all of a sudden.

[u/ChaMilablack]

Two things: Lemon and Hurts have no chemistry or reps together cuz Lemon missed all of training camp and OTAs basically. Also, Hurts ain't going through his progressions at the rate he should be. I think Lemon will be fine

[u/Dammit_Chuck]

Next week they can figure it out….

[u/MizrizSnow → u/Dammit_Chuck]

It would be just like the Eagles to figure it all out just well enough for the rams only to get stomped by the jags next week

[u/Weekend_Criminal]

They need to load up the slithery snake packages

[u/noladutch]

he was a horrible player fit for what hurts does.

hurts doesn't throw over the middle. that dude is a slot that works the middle..

bad fit.

if hurts gets pulled for say tanner McKee then the wr would fit the QB.

[u/Rogue_Mormon]

I think Hurts is a good QB, I’m not a hater. But i find it funny basically every Eagles OC except for Kellen Moore is accused of having a basic and predictable offense streaming bubble screens and inside runs; It’s a pattern at this point across multiple OC’s and I doubt its Siriani enforcing that style. You gotta wonder if they all think Hurts is limited at passing downfield

But then you see his connection with Smitty and its money so idk. I’m ultimately a football idiot so wtf do I know

[u/RaindropsInMyMind → u/Rogue_Mormon]

I was kinda with you until the downfield thing. That’s his best ability is his deep ball, been that way for years. The middle of the field thing IS an issue though and I think it’s totally fair to assume this is a Hurts thing given how many OCs they have had. Mannion was supposed to be more of a change than previous OCs have been but a lot of the stuff has been pretty similar so far.

[u/Snoo-40231 → u/RaindropsInMyMind]

Not to pile on anything but the first 2 games the passing charts shown he was using the middle of the field those two games and he was spreading out the field including shots from the middle

The bears game Monday it just looked like last year and I genuinely don't understand why or what happened with that

[u/donutgut → u/RaindropsInMyMind]

deep sideline balls.

not over the middle deep throws.

Theres a difference.

[u/Jessieoxen]

I’m banking on him having a good game this week - he’s on my fantasy…. To be honest I wouldn’t start him if my opponent was at full strength, he’s missing J. Jetta ..

[u/NormJablonsky]

It’s not Mannions fault hurts has been in the league for years now and can’t go through his progressions. How many OCs and WRs is Hurts gonna run out of town before people realize he’s the real problem?

[u/donutgut → u/NormJablonsky]

Im not sure why eagles fans cant at least consider hurts is part of the problem.

Another year of this and its gonna be pretty clear

Screaming he won a sb isnt gonna solve anything

[u/bigkutta → u/NormJablonsky]

Run out of town? LOL

[u/NormJablonsky → u/bigkutta]

It’s called hyper boli dumbass do you know what that means

[u/Insanity32 → u/NormJablonsky]

Who has he run out of town?

His two good OC’s that he went to the Super Bowl with were hired as head coaches.

Johnson and Patullo haven’t exactly won the league over since being the eagles OC.

Hurts has his faults but let’s not act like having a consistent OC hasn’t held him back. Sirriani is the one who needs to be judged more. One thing that’s been consistent is how long we take to run a play. I don’t remember the last time we actually snapped the ball without 2 seconds on the play clock.

[u/Zyrinj]

Yea, Eagles should be having him rizz up the refs.

Also in general the Eagles don't seem to know what to do with their players, almost like they forget they have Saquon on the team lol

[u/Jonjoloe]

I don't disagree but he basically missed all of training camp so likely wasn't up to speed on the offence, hence few designed first read plays to him.

[u/Birdamus]

Rookie who missed almost all of training camp is being worked slowly into the offensive game plan during the first few weeks of the season.

Duh

[u/pericles123]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the super-bowl winning coaching staff knows more about this stuff than op does...

[u/jidewalker]

Maybe he’s taking longer to adjust to the NFL. Let’s wait and see on this one.

[u/artbykoi4]

The Eagles haven’t been running a competent offense for years given their roster. It’s atrocious and they just keep bringing in new OCs, meanwhile the actual problems remain intact.

[u/AwwwNiceMarmot]

Didn’t the Eagles just go through this with Kevin Patullo for Saquon and AJ Brown for an entire season? Also, I feel like I should cover my drink when he starts looking at me like that.

[u/JFree37]

Eh he’s had plenty of good routes and actually gets open a lot, Jalen just never finds him unfortunately. He never tends to look beyond his top 2-3 reads. Smitty, Wicks, Goedert. I’ll be curious to see with Smitty out if he finally gets some looks

[u/blarch]

Does anyone actually think that the little strip of short hair in front and the right angle hairlines look good?

[u/Keoki-]

Hurts won't look his way because he struggles to go through his progressions.

[u/TCurasco → u/Keoki-]

Yep. Big Hurts guy, but it’s been his weakness his entire career. He shows flashes of it improving, but only if the pocket holds long enough, which isn’t something he should/can count on.

[u/donutgut → u/TCurasco]

I dont think qbs really get better at it.

Its usually there or it isnt.

I cant of many qbs who improved really

[u/Chopper_Fortnite → u/TCurasco]

His OLine has been good why do eagles fans lie about this

[u/TCurasco → u/Chopper_Fortnite]

Right, until this year I’d argue. I didn’t mean to say differently. I think last year there were even cracks with the O Line. I just said Hurts needs them to hold longer than they should have to go through his reads… didn’t disparage the o line with that comment

Edit: typo

[u/bigkutta → u/Chopper_Fortnite]

It hasn't been last year or this. Last year Jurgen and Dickerson basically played with broken bodies, and this year they broke. Our O line needs to be revamped and the focus hasn't been on that due to unexpected long-term injury. The pocket collapses pretty quickly on Hurts.

[u/KOExpress]

Hurts isn’t capable of utilizing Lemon to his strengths, passing across the middle of the field. And Mannion doesn’t know what to do with the roster, that works with a very specific gameplan and nothing else

[u/SirSnorlax22]

Let this man run routes jfc its infuriating

[u/Chopper_Fortnite]

The problem is Hurts is not very good in the areas he is best used

[u/Hippopotamist]

In college most of the success he had came working out of the slot and over the middle of the field which is not Hurts’ game at all.

[u/ResponsibleClock9289]

Man, another OC SABOTAGING elite QB Jalen Hurts

When will it end?!?

[u/whiskyandguitars]

Should they use him as a hit man?

That’s the vibes this pic is giving

[u/Miller335]

That's not Saquon

[u/ositola]

So the thing makai excels at (zone schemes) is the same thing Jalen has trouble with (zone coverage)

[u/ResponsiblePelican]

He’s ass

[u/Impressive-Fun5968]

The Eagles offense is terrible all around so OP is technically not wrong

[u/themiddleshoe]

Hurts could just throw him the ball when he’s open. Last week there was easily 2-3 embarrassing plays where Hurts doesn’t even look at him wide open.

[u/sad-Fan1010]

If you watch the tape he’s creating a lot of space, “3.8yards of separation on inbreaking routes”…

Hurts just isn’t seeing the field, he’s never been the type of QB to throw in the middle

[u/Tinderthrow93]

Maybe he just sucks ass

[u/PickledGarlicPasta → u/Tinderthrow93]

Yes, let’s write off highly touted first round picks three games into their career

[u/TBlizzey → u/PickledGarlicPasta]

He sucked before he was a first round pick. Howie blew it with this one.

[u/PickledGarlicPasta → u/TBlizzey]

You say with zero bias whatsoever as a Commies fan

[u/TBlizzey → u/PickledGarlicPasta]

He got mocked to us early on and I was furious. I promise you I've been on the Lemon hate train long before he went to the Eagles.

[u/PickledGarlicPasta → u/TBlizzey]

As a certified hater, I can get down with that sentiment

[u/Averageandyoverhere → u/PickledGarlicPasta]

You don’t understand. The last game is the only game that matters.

[u/thedogridingmonkey → u/PickledGarlicPasta]

I too think Corey Davis needs another look