PHILADELPHIA -- Consider Byron Maxwell a lucky man.
The former Seattle Seahawks cornerback figured to land a pretty big contract in free agency. Coming off two consecutive Super Bowl appearances, Maxwell was widely considered the best cornerback in a thin market.
But Maxwell had some additional good fortune. The Philadelphia Eagles were not only in the market for a cornerback or two, they were looking to redistribute their salary cap expenditures. Coach Chip Kelly felt the Eagles were spending too much on offensive players and not enough on defense.
“We were inadequate in terms of the money allocated defensively to offensively,” Kelly said Wednesday, “and we’re trying to balance that out. I think it showed in our play.”
Meanwhile, Kelly had removed several significant contracts from the defensive side of the ledger. Linebacker Trent Cole and cornerback Cary Williams had been scheduled to make a total of nearly $20 million in 2015. Both were released.
The Eagles’ six-year, $63 million deal with Maxwell has made several lists of worst free agent contracts of the offseason. Most analysts agree that Maxwell is a good player, but many found his contract a bit out of line with his career achievements.
But Kelly said those who saw Maxwell as the fourth best defensive back in Seattle’s Legion of Boom secondary had it backward. Maxwell did not benefit from having two great safeties playing behind him, Kelly said.
“I think that’s a misconception because he didn’t have two safeties behind him,” Kelly said. “They were either a Cover-3 or a Cover-1, and they don’t play two-deep (safeties), and Kam (Chancellor) is usually down in the box.
“The one thing I think is interesting about Byron is because of how good Richard Sherman is, scheme-wise, (Maxwell) a lot of times got the best receiver. Everybody tried to scheme people and he got the most balls because you’re not going to throw on Richard. He’s got a great skill set, great size, great length, really smart, intuitive football player. He benefited from really good coaching in Seattle. Pete (Carroll) does an unbelievable job with defensive backs.”
That’s a good point. Teams trying to avoid throwing at Sherman had to throw somewhere. They would line their best receivers up across from Maxwell and challenge him. Maxwell held up, for the most part. With the Eagles, he will be the better cornerback. That means he will actually be challenged less than he was in Seattle.
That could make Maxwell a very good addition for the Eagles. As for a $63 million addition, that’s a different story. But as you can see, many factors go into the size of a free agent’s contract. Williams would have counted about $8 million against the Eagles’ salary cap this year. Maxwell represents an improvement at the position, and on the ledger book.