Source: Maddox released to clear nearly $2M in salary cap space
The Eagles are releasing starting slot cornerback Avonte Maddox, according to a league source who confirmed an ESPN report on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old has spent the first six seasons of his career with the Eagles and was entering the final season of a four-year contract extension signed in 2021 with a $9.6 million cap hit going into next season. The move clears just under $2 million on the Eagles salary cap and leaves the door open for Maddox to potentially return on a lower number later this offseason.
Maddox, a fourth-round pick in the 2018 NFL draft, became one of the better nickel cornerbacks in the
NFL for the Eagles, but has missed significant time throughout his career. A torn pectoral injury held him out for all but four games last season and myriad injuries sidelined him for half of last year as well. He’s played 16 or more games just once in his career.
Maddox has 38 career starts and 64 total games played with four career interceptions, eight forced fumbles, and 250 total tackles.
After Maddox went down in Week 2 last year, the Eagles had a revolving door of slot cornerbacks in his place for the duration of the season. They came into training camp with Zech McPhearson as the primary backup, but the 2021 thirdround pick suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in the preseason. The team tried James Bradberry inside along with undrafted rookie Eli Ricks before signing veteran defensive back Bradley Roby for the spot midway through the year. When Roby missed time, the team used practice squad call-ups Josiah Scott and Mario Goodrich in the slot before eventually settling on rookie safety Sydney Brown.
Maddox returned ahead of schedule last year. He played the final two regular-season games and the Eagles’ wildcard round loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He had one forced fumble and two pass break-ups in his four regular season games.
During a news conference at the scouting combine last week, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman conceded the team needed to bolster the depth at slot cornerback this offseason compared to last.
“I’ve got to do a better job of bringing in more guys to be able to play that position,” Roseman said. “I think that’s one area that you kind of felt like, in August, maybe we needed to add. So we tried some guys.”
The Eagles are now projected to start free agency next week with just under $44 million, according to overthecap.com. They have several needs on the defensive side and could be aggressive pursuing young building blocks in the secondary. This year’s draft class also presents a strong class of cornerbacks with plenty of defensive back prospects capable of holding their own in the slot expected to be available in the middle rounds.