The free agent cornerback market lost two of its better players to re-signings over the weekend, but the Philadelphia Eagles were able to act fast and spend big to acquire Byron Maxwell from the Seattle Seahawks. Viewed by some as the best corner on the market, Maxwell was brilliant in the Seahawks’ run to Super Bowl victory in 2013, providing them with physically dominating performances across from Richard Sherman.
Entering the starting lineup in Week 13 for Brandon Browner, Maxwell earned a +10.5 overall grade including the playoffs, putting up coverage numbers very similar to Sherman in the process. He struggled to repeat that form this season but his performance against the Eagles (+3.1 coverage grade) showed that a quality corner was still in there in a slightly down season. The potential shown in 2013 was enough to convince Philadelphia that he can be their top corner moving forward and coming in at 6-foot-0 and over 200 pounds he has the size and length that teams operating a single-high scheme crave.
The questions that Maxwell will have to answer is whether he can play at left corner and whether he can be the No. 1 guy in a secondary away from the rest of the “Legion of Boom”. We saw how the Seahawks suffered when Maxwell missed the divisional playoff game against the Panthers and Tharold Simon was shredded in his stead so the idea that it is all the system is clearly wide of the mark. Some may say that a contract in excess of $60 million is excessive for Maxwell but at the end of the day that is the market and the Eagles made sure that they got the right man for their scheme as they look to replace both starting corners for 2015.
PFF Podcast: Byron Maxwell to Eagles
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