We learned last night that the Eagles would be aggressive suitors for prospective free agents Devin McCourty and Byron Maxwell, and the team seems to be especially active in its pursuit of Maxwell. Rand Getlin of Yahoo! Sports tweeted yesterday that the Eagles were “out in front” for Maxwell, and Getlin added (via Twitter) this morning that Philadelphia is willing to give Maxwell a deal worth over $10MM a year, which would be a somewhat surprising top-of-the-market offer.
If Philadelphia displays the same aggressiveness with McCourty, they may be able to land him as well. As Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com writes, the Patriots would love to have McCourty back, but if the bidding goes much higher than $8MM per season, New England may have to bow out. We heard yesterday that McCourty is seeking at least $9MM per year, which Jairus Byrd was able to land last season. PFR’s Luke Adams predicted yesterday that McCourty, who has been a consistently productive defensive back over the course of his career, would be able to make at least as much.
The Giants are also reported to have interest in McCourty, but Dan Graziano of ESPN.com tweets that the team may be more interested in addressing its defensive line in free agency. As of right now, the smart money seems to be on the Eagles using a big chunk of their newfound $36MM in cap space to boost their secondary with both McCourty and Maxwell.