PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Emergency pod: Philadelphia Eagles release Avonte Maddox

Episode Date: March 6, 2024

The Eagles' reworking of the roster got another early start Wednesday when reports surfaced the team plans to release cornerback Avonte Maddox. Zach Berman and Bo Wulf react to the news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to a little quickie, an emergency pod, Bo Wolf, Zach Berman for the Ph.O.I. Eagles podcast. Zach raises his eyebrows at the mention of a quickie. We are here to discuss the Eagles release of Avanti Maddox, as quoted first by Adam Schaefter. Zach, we discussed this on the show today, the possibility that this might be coming. We sort of guessed that they might have a conversation about a reality. We sort of guessed that they might have a conversation about a restructuring. Maybe Maddox would want more money than they were willing to offer. They would let him test the market. They would be open to a return. It sort of seems like that is what has transpired here with a contract that was like definitely not going to be carried over to the full year because of where he stands at the moment. Yes, both did. I mean, the Eagles glove of Ante Maddox. We've documented that over the years. He was a player in that, in that 2018 draft that they had targeted. They gave him an extensive. he's he's like a favorite within the locker room in the front office he's played 13 regular

season games the past two years like you said there was a big cap number he would have been due what 9.8 next year and the Eagles depending on whether it's a June 1st designation or a post June 1st designation or just I'm sorry you he would have counted for 9.7 next year they'll save nearly 2 million in cap space if it's post June 1st they would save even more because it'd be split over two years. We'll see how the bookkeeping is on this, but we expected a move based on what that cap number was. I don't think this is reflective of what they think of him as a player. I think they would take him back at a decent price, but given the injury history, he's hard to rely upon at this point. And Howie Roseman said last week, they didn't do a good enough job

bringing in slot cornerbacks last year. They tried Zach McPherson as a backup during training camp. McPherson got hurt. They crossed train. James Bradbury. That did not work out. They signed Bradley Robey during the season. So we expected this to be a position they were going to look at. And this really just accelerates that search for a slot.

Yeah. Now, we talked this when they signed Maddox to the extension, that they had signed Jordan Milana and Dallas Goddard and Josh Swett. And it was like the storytelling of what a great draft I was. We're keeping all these core pieces together. And it never looked like the Maddox deal. was one in which they were like, they were getting a really team-friendly deal. Like, they were paying at the top of the nickel market for a guy who had been really good

when healthy, but had struggled to stay healthy. And you look back at like even the beginning of his career, I know the last couple years he's been healthy, but in the beginning of his career, he misses three games, he misses four games, he misses six games. And then in 2021, he plays 16 of 17 games. But the last two seasons, as you said, he's missed a lot of time. He missed seven games a year ago. and 13 games last year.

He is an undersized player. They love him in the locker room. Boy, do the players on the team love him? And he is a versatile player who brings a lot to the table when he's healthy. But you just, they cannot afford to pay a 28-year-old who has real trouble stay in the field at the rate that they were paying it. Yeah, you're right. And I mean, I imagine he expected this.

And you're correct, too, about what that contract was when they signed him. That was not a discount. They viewed him as one of the top slot corners in the NFL, and they paid him accordingly. And in their, I don't want to say in their defense, but consistent with their thinking, he played that way when he was on the field. But these past two years, he just simply hasn't been on the field enough. And they're at a point here where, A, you couldn't bring up, it would have been hard to justify bringing him back at that number, even if he had Sterling health. but given the health, it was pretty clear they had to make a move. And it was only a matter of whether they would do a restructuring ahead of time and keep

them here at a lower number or if they would let him see the market, let him see his value, and then potentially have a reunion. But I wouldn't view this as like a cut just to bring them back and put him in the same role. I think the Eagles new slot corner was something they were going to have to look at this offseason. So tell me where you think the Eagles stand roster while. at nickel at the moment? Well, the kind of hipster name, if you will, as she would like to say, I quote she'll a lot,

would be Isaiah Rogers. Now, Isaiah Rogers doesn't have slot corner experience per se. He's mainly been an outside guy when he's been in his time with the Colts, but given the body type, the fact that they had Kenny Moore there, Kenny Moore was their slot. So given the body type, you kind of think that maybe he can, play the slot. He's like 510, 170.

And he was obviously suspended last year, but you can't count on him yet. You have to see him. It's been a year since he's been on the football field with the team. This is a relatively deep slot corner draft. I mean, I made the reference last week that

Daniel Jeremiah said on a conference call, he has 14 corners ranked in the top three rounds. But after like the top six or seven, it's mainly guys for like inside outside players. So I think that they could address it in the draft. There are a number of guys in free agency as we're doing the quacketology who have that inside outside versatility are mainly primarily inside guys. And then internally, as you've said, Sidney Brown can play in

the slot. We'll see how that happens when he returns. And there are a few other moves that they can make like, you know, they can sign a safety who can move over to the slide. But I'm expecting there to be a new, you know, player from the outside competing for the top slot job next year. Yeah, I also, I think it relates to the safety conversation we've been having about if the eagles are going to add a big ticket player in free agency, the safety market seems like one of the places to draw from. And you think of a guy like C.J. Gardner Johnson, for instance, where if you are signing

him and penciling him into safety week one, but knowing that Sydney Brown can come back at some point and Gardner Johnson can become the nickel. Now you probably don't pay a nickel as much as you pay a safety and that's part of the calculation. But in terms of like fitting the roster pieces and knowing that you might have two long term safeties, if you sign somebody with that versatility, that sort of covers you both ways. And I don't view, even if they don't bring Maddox back, which I still think is a possibility, I don't view safety. nickel as something that they need to fill before the draft for the reasons that you said and also because I think the market, there will be options available.

Isaiah Rogers is there. You know, Eli Ricks potentially, if he gets a full season training as an inside guy. Like, I think you're actually okay there. It's not a spot that they need to rush to fill. Yeah, I see what you mean. Now, it's interesting. You and I are often on the opposite ends of this argument. you don't like the wait for the draft typically to fill up position.

I understand what you're saying about a surplus there on the market. If you miss it in the draft or if the board doesn't fall to you, that's a position you can typically find in May or June, right? I mean, similar to the way the Eagles approached running back in 2017, the board didn't fall to them. They signed Ligarrett Blunt. You can typically find slot corners anytime during the summer. But it is an important position.

And I think last year demonstrated that if you're not adequately prepared there, it's not as if you can just say, all right, we're going to take this corner and put them inside. You know, the Eagles tried that. And in preseason pods or offseason pods in our former show, we identified slot cornerback as a position where they didn't have the depth that they needed. And that came to fruition during the season. So I'm okay not forcing the issue during the next month, but they need to be adequately prepared come training camp. They can't just say, all right, let's take this hodgepodge of outside guys and cross-trained them because you don't know how that's going to look. Like James Bradbury is an example of how you can't just take an outside guy and put them in the slot. It's in a certain respect.

It's a different skill sets, a different body type. You need to be confident that you have that position solidified. All right, Zach, I'm having some audio issues here. So let's close this bad boy. I got one more question for you. Just on the looking back at Avanti Maddox's career, let's say this is it with the Eagles. He does not come back.

What will be your lasting Avanti Maddox memory? My last thing of Avanti Maddox memory from like a coverage perspective, like from covering him, I had fun writing a story about Amante Maddox and Dallas got her living together back during 2019. But just as a player, he was all over the place. I mean, I remember vividly how scary it was when he was on the turf in Green Bay. I hate to make that be lasting memory, but you know, you don't cover many games where someone gets taken off in a stretcher, right? Or in a gurney, rather.

So it's, that was, that was scary to see. But Avanti Maddox, which is always a pleasure to talk to, full of energy. He's a guy who I think the reason why he's popular in the locker room is he brings. a lot of juice. But yeah, I would say probably the personal interactions and then just watching him all over the field. And I would also say his rookie year when he played some safety in a pinch and he looked good there.

Yeah, I would say my early of Ante Manick's memory is remember the beginning of his rookie season when he was involved. I think it was the game at the Giants when he was telling me the story. I wrote my post game thing about how they had shaved his eyebrows in the lead-up like as the rookie hazing thing and he was just making fun of the way that he looked. But he's always been a great guy to talk to and one of those like locker room glue guys,

but at some point the value of that outpaces the quality on the play. So on the field, rather. So last thing, Zach, super chat from Vince. Give us the top slot corner on the team in the draft and in free agency on the team, I guess you would say, Isaiah Rogers at this point. In the draft with your boy, your boy Sanristil? Is that the book?

Yeah, Sanristil is like your slot only type. So if you're looking for that slot only, he's a player who I really like, really productive at Michigan. If you're looking for someone real versatile, Brand Duffie's got Cooper DeGine is someone who is said to be able to play the outside, the slot, and even safety, right? So he fits that profile of you just draft a good deep back and you can find a spot for him.

you know, you hear the Missouri cornerback, right, a Brake straw junior is someone who might be able to play inside outside. So those are a few that that jumped the mind. And then free agency, I mean, I'll defer to you at the top hundred. There's slot only guys like Kenny Moore, but there's other guys who have inside outside versatility. Yeah, I don't think they're, I don't think they're all of a sudden in the market for like a Kenny Moore type of guy who was almost 30 years old as a, as a patchwork player. I think if they're looking for someone, it's going to be somebody who can be a part of the team for a while.

It would be more of the Gardner-Johnson type, and you're putting him in that bucket. But I'm not so sure that's what they're going to be doing. So we will talk about it a little bit more on the show tomorrow at noon. As we continue with quackatology, we're getting into the guys on the offensive and defensive lines. We're going to talk about some of the skill position players available. And we are expecting to be joined by Brandon Graham at some point on tomorrow's show.

so we are looking forward to that. That'll do it for this Avanti Maddox emergency pod for Zach and Julia and all of us at PHLY. We thank you for sticking with us, checking us out. What a good quickie. 13 minutes, not so bad. That'll do it for this episode. We'll talk to tomorrow, and as always, we love you.