EAGLEMANIACAL.com

Credit: Eric Hartline-US PRESSWIRE

UNLESS some other team backs a truckload of money up to his house, our #1 WR is coming back next year. The Eagles simply can’t afford to lose Jeremy Maclin. Despite delusional fans who say we didn’t miss DeSean Jackson in 2014, anybody who actually knows this sport knows that we did, and they also know why we did.

NFL.com flat out said in these exact words “the Eagles can’t expect Riley Cooper to lead the way at wideout”. That’s a fact that even Cooper’s parents would have to agree with. Despite some young talent behind Maclin, NOBODY is under the illusion that the Eagles can afford to lose him. This is why I said in October that we should have been developing Jordan Matthews. You have to ask yourself, how much extra leverage did Maclin gain, simply because Riley Cooper kept starting? Then again the real question is, how hot of a bidding war can we endure to keep him, since we didn’t develop any other starters?

One possible hot suitor for Maclin is Kansas City. Maclin is a Missouri native, and he has a positive history with Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid. In fact, Maclin wrote at length about Reid’s genius. With KC needing a WR as bad as Dez Bryant needed Stickum on Sunday, it makes sense that KC would try to land Maclin.

However considering that KC will be strapped for cash in a year when Maclin is looking to break the bank, the union seems far-fetched. That is, unless the rumblings of mass ejections rumored to happen in KC actually take place. Word is that WR’s Dwayne Bowe, Donnie Avery and a few other heretofore sacred cows, will all be sacrificed on the Altar of Cap Savings, in a ritual known as the Cutting of the Dead Weight.

Even with some of the cuts we’re set to make (Cary Williams), and some of the possible restructures (Trent Cole), when you consider how many players we’ll need to re-sign or replace, the salary cap doesn’t allow for much in the way of overpaying. So a bidding war for Maclin would be bad, though the Chiefs we can probably handle with that. However, if other teams get involved, it could get out of hand as well as out of our price range.

There is one scenario where we keep Maclin, but to our own disadvantage. If a division rival were to initially bid just beyond the Eagles “comfort threshold” for Maclin, our counteroffer would start out on the uncomfortable side. Even without a protracted bidding war, we would already be in a situation where we’d have to part with someone we expected to have back. In that way our rivals could sabotage us just by making Maclin an offer.

I’m guessing that March will be anything but boring.