Avonte Maddox is entering the final year of his contract with the Eagles. He’s played well for the most part, but has had trouble staying on the field during his career. Maddox has played 16 games just once in six seasons. There’s a lot of options with Avonte, so let’s look at his contract.
He currently has a cap hit of $9.68M going into 2024. Cutting Maddox will leave a dead cap of $7.72M but will save them $1.96M in cap space this year.
He would still have a cap hit of $5.16M next season due to void years added to contract to deflate yearly cap hits. Ignore those void year numbers in 2026 & 2027; those become due the season after a contract ends.
That dead cap numbers in 2025 could be pushed out further IF the front office decides to re-sign Maddox, but that’s unlikely due to his age and injury history.
The Eagles could save about $7.12M in cap space if Maddox is designated as a post 6/1 release or trade, but that money isn’t realized until 6/1 after all the major free agents have signed. Post 6/1 releases are largely not useful for teams. They would still owe the $5.16M in dead money next year under this scenario.
RESTRUCTURE?
The team could opt to restructure Maddox’s contract and open up cap space this season. They could convert roughly $5.5M of his base salary to a signing bonus. They can then prorate that signing bonus over five years (adding four more void years). This would open up roughly $4.4M in cap space this season. This is a deep free agent class. That extra cap space could help them go after some big names at key positions.
It’s important to understand, if the team goes this route and don’t re-sign Maddox, then all of that money they converted will also count against the cap next year. They would incur a cap hit of roughly $9.5M for a guy not on the roster in 2025.
I don’t think the Eagles will go this route. They’re not hurting for cap space, as they’ll likely have around $45M available after cutting Kevin Byard, restructuring Jake Elliot’s contract, and with BG, Fletch and Jason Kelce probably gone after this season.
They could really open up more cap space if they restructure Haason Reddick’s contract. He has a base salary of $14.25M in 2024. That’s a more complicated discussion though.
CUT IT OUT
Let’s examine some options with Maddox and how this roster looks heading into the 2024 offseason.
First, here’s the defensive backs heading into the 2024 offseason.
I think the Eagles plan on having Isaiah Rodgers take over the slot position. They signed Rodgers after the Colts cut him due to his year long suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy. Rodgers has never played the slot extensively in college or the NFL though, so how he would transition to that position remains an unknown and I wouldn’t put all my eggs in that basket.
There are options in this draft as well. Mike Sainristil from Michigan is going to be a name Eagles nation is going to hear about a lot during the draft process. Still, the Eagles don’t like to rely on rookies starting to enter the season and you don’t know how the draft will shake out.
In addition to that, Maddox has some positional flexibility. It seems like there has always been chatter about moving Maddox to safety after his rookie year. In 2022, they used Maddox as a safety in a limited role against the Bears. This season, Maddox played safety against the Vikings for a handful of snaps before tearing his pec.
Looking at the Eagles current roster situation for 2024, they are extremely thin at safety with just two on the roster (with Byard almost certainly being cut). The situation is even more dire when you factor in that Sydney Brown is likely to miss the start of the season. Maddox could transition to safety for the final year of his contract.
For all these reasons, I don’t believe Maddox will be cut. Like I said, they’re not hurting for cap space, there’s still uncertainty with the slot position and he can provide depth at safety.
TRADING PLACES
While I don’t think Maddox will be cut, I do think he could be a potential trade candidate.
Slot corner is a position in need league wide. Considering he likely won’t be on the team in 2025, the Eagles can look to swing a trade for draft picks or for another position of need, such as linebacker, safety, third wide receiver or even a running back. You’ll need a team willing to play ball though, and they’ll have to overlook his injury history.
If they can trade for a position of need and not have to spend that money in free agency, then they could go after a different slot that will be available. Kenny Moore II, Keisean Nixon, Myles Bryant, Tre Herndon and Jourdan Lewis are options that will likely be on the open market.
If I had to bet, I don’t think the Eagles find a trade partner when factoring in Maddox’s injury history and the fact that he’s on an expiring contract.
My gut feeling is Maddox is an Eagle in 2024 as he provides the Eagles depth and flexibility at different positions. After seeing how quickly a secondary can be depleted this season, having guys ready to step in is never a bad thing.
