The Kansas City Chiefs made a surprising move last week by releasing former Pro Bowl receiver Jeremy Maclin just two years into a five-year, $55 million deal. He struggled to fit into the Chiefs' offense this past year, struggling to put up similar numbers to the ones he posted with the Eagles.
Among the teams interested are the Ravens and Bills for obvious reasons, and Maclin has visited both up to this point. One team that isnt interested, however, is Philadelphia. Doug Pederson debunked the rumor that the Eagles are interested in a reunion Thursday, saying theyre not looking into signing him at this time.
Love the guys that we have, Pederson said at his news conference. Listen, were always constantly looking and obviously trying to better our roster at every position, but at this time, Im very pleased with what were working with and what we have. We have some young talent thats playing extremely well. Going forward, next week and on into camp, thats what Im trying to see, is where our young guys are and how well they can handle the workload with what were trying to do offensively and our passing game.
Maclin spent five years with the Eagles, catching 343 passes for 4,771 yards and 36 touchdowns. His best season came in 2014, when he was a Pro Bowler thanks to his 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns, but his numbers fell off drastically in 2016.
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It should come as no surprise that his lone good season in Kansas City came in 2015, when Doug Pederson was the offensive coordinator. That year, he had a career-high 87 catches for 1,088 yards and eight touchdowns. When Pederson left, though, his production dropped.
Thats precisely why Maclin had been linked to the Eagles by some, allowing him to reunite with Pederson and join an offense thats rebuilding at wide receiver. Philadelphia currently has Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith, Jordan Matthews and Nelson Agholor in the mix, but the latter two struggled in 2016, and Smith is past his prime.
Maclins destinations will likely come down to Buffalo and Baltimore, which are the only two cities that hes visited so far.
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