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Philadelphia Eagles mercifully cut Cary Williams, Byron Maxwell up next?

By Kevin Parvizi

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In most cases, it’s not a good idea for a team to release a league-average starter at a position they have major issues at, but the Philadelphia Eagles decision to cut ties with Cary Williams today, as announced by the team on Twitter, isn’t that type of a case. Whenever a player is woefully overpaid and simply isn’t playing well enough to justify their cap charge, then they will almost always find themselves on the open market no matter how bad their peers at the position are.

Williams drew the ire of Eagles fans for getting burned far too often, and we all remember how he picked a fight with a certain New England Patriots rookie receiver at joint practice for no apparent reason.

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Per Pro Football Focus, Williams was responsible for five touchdowns allowed last season, and he also surrendered more than 13 yards per reception with an 89.5 QB Rating into his coverage. Williams isn’t a bad corner and makes big plays at big moments in games, but he’s as inconsistent as they come.

This release is a total cap casualty, as Williams was simply untenable at his $6.5 million base salary which led to a total cap charge of $8.1 million for the Eagles. Now, the team saves $6.5 million, which could end up being the yearly salary of a significantly better cornerback in free agency. Byron Maxwell will continue to be linked heavily to the Eagles, as they desperately need cornerback help to add to Brandon Boykin and Nolan Carroll.

Most importantly, the Eagles need an outside cornerback, so Maxwell makes plenty of sense as that kind of an option. Kareem Jackson and Brandon Flowers are great finesse CBs that can play inside or outside, but snagging a physical outside corner like Maxwell would be huge for the rest of the defense, especially if he can play like he did in 2013.

When the Eagles signed Williams to a three-year, $17 million contract to make him one of the NFL’s 20 highest-paid cornerbacks, I think most of us had a feeling this deal would come back to bite him. He simply rode the coattails of an excellent, Super Bowl-winning Baltimore Ravens defense, because he wasn’t great despite four picks and 17 passes defended in 2012. He played well, but let’s just say that Brent Grimes, Aqib Talib, Sean Smith, and Keenan Lewis are all true No. 1 corners who were also in that 2013 free agent class.

Williams’s $6.5 million base salary simply was too much for a mediocre play who isn’t reliable enough in coverage (or week-to-week) to cost more than Kareem Jackson, Vontae Davis, Sam Shields, Antonio Cromartie, and Smith against the cap.

It’s important to note that Williams isn’t a bad player and would have easily been back had he made about two million dollars less in his final season, as he offered something of value to the Eagles as an average No. 2 corner who can make plays on the ball. Meanwhile, Bradley Fletcher was way more burn prone, and he’ll leave this offseason without any sort of dead money sucked by the Eagles as an impending free agent.

With Williams and his bloated cap hit out the door, the Eagles can now search for a true No. 1 cornerback, and it will be interesting how high they are on Jaylen Watkins, particularly when it comes to the seldom-used, high-upside rookie’s ability ot play outside. Either way, the Eagles have to be major players on the free agent market in order to shore up what is easily their biggest need, so add that as their 1b priority behind keeping true No. 1 wideout Jeremy Maclin.

Last season, Cary Williams had a career-low two picks, ten passes defended, and 60 tackles, and while they are strong numbers, they don’t take into account the touchdowns and big plays he gave up in coverage. Again, Williams’s playmaking ability in the secondary makes him worth starting, but he’s not a No. 1 receiver and doesn’t deserve to be paid like one. At $6.5 million, Williams was essentially making low-end CB1 money, and the Philadelphia Eagles simply had to admit their 2013 free agent mistake and move on.

Dec 14, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Cary Williams (26) reacts to an officials call in a game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field. The Cowboys defeated the Eagles 38-27. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

They’ll only have to swallow around $1.7 million in dead money compared to the overall $8.1 million in savings against the cap, and, in all honesty, Maxwell won’t cost that much more than $6.5 million per year.

It all depends on guaranteed money, but I honestly see Maxwell setting a team back $8 million per season, which isn’t all that much more than what Williams costed the Eagles last season. And if the Eagles choose to go with someone like K-Jax, then they probably won’t lose any money on a significant upgrade.

Currently, the vast majority of Eagles fans are ecstatic at the news of Williams’s release, but he’ll definitely find work elsewhere, likely at a more reasonable salary of around $4 million per season. He’s 30, so don’t expect anything more than a two-year deal at this point.

The Eagles now have ammunition to aggressively pursue a massive upgrade at the cornerback position with both of their starters gone (including the especially burn-prone Fletcher), and we’re all left wondering if they’ll put all their chips on the table for Maxwell, who is the odds-on favorite to make the most bank at the position this offseason.

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