Could Chip Kelly end up jettisoning his top three offensive weapons in two seasons? First, he released DeSean Jackson last offseason. Next, he traded LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills last night. Now, it's possible that he may let Jeremy Maclin walk in free agency.
"Updated info on Maclin: Deal was close for some time, not as close recently and he's getting nibbles. #Eagles have to up ante w/ McCoy leak," Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweeted.
Up the ante is right. Maclin has two things going for him as he enters unrestricted free agency. One, he is coming off the best season of his career in which he caught 85 passes for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns. Whether those numbers are inflated by Kelly's offensive system or not are irrelevant. Maclin's agent will flaunt them to other teams that are more than willing to pony up for the wide receiver's services. The second thing Maclin has going for him is the large amount of salary cap space Philly just opened up for themselves. By releasing veterans Trent Cole and Cary Williams and trading McCoy, the Eagles have added more than $31 million in cap space for 2015. Maclin has to be looking at all that financial wiggle room and rightfully holding out for a bigger slice of it.
If Philly holds tight and refuses to up their offer, expect the Oakland Raiders and the Cleveland Browns to heavily court Maclin in free agency. Both teams are flush with cap space ($55 million for Oakland, $50 million for Cleveland) and both have glaring needs at the wide receiver position.
Can the Eagles really compete with Oakland and Cleveland's level of desperation? Does Kelly even want to? We'll find out once free agency opens on March 10.
