Cornerback Leodis McKelvin’s disastrous one-year stint with the Eagles is now over, as the team released the veteran cornerback on Wednesday.
The move saves the Eagles $3.2 million in cap space, one of the main motives for the move outside of McKelvin’s poor play last season. You can read a complete breakdown of the Eagles’ cap space after the release here.
What else does it mean on the field?
Here is a look at the impact McKelvin’s release will have on the team.
They have upgraded at cornerback: Good news Eagles’ fans — the team will not almost certainly have a better starting cornerback next season. McKelvin might be a veteran, but it is hard to see any rookie or new free agent coming in and playing worse than McKelvin, who was beat every week he stepped on the field.
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They will draft a cornerback: Even before the release of McKelvin, the Eagles were likely going to draft a cornerback very early on in the 2017 NFL Draft. Had they convinced themselves into one more year of McKelvin, however, they might have decided to take a cornerback a little later on.
With McKelvin out of the picture, however, the Eagles need a player that can start right away — and those type of players usually come in the first or second round.
They will sign cornerback: The Eagles seem set to free up plenty of cap space, and releasing McKelvin is just the first step in doing so. There might not be any big-name free agent cornerbacks available this offseason, as the free agency crop is expected to be weak, but the team appears to be gearing up to make a run at one if there is a No. 1-type cornerback to be signed.
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This was a mistake from the beginning: Who decided to sign McKelvin isn’t clear, but it was likely a combination of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and top personnel executive Howie Roseman. Schwartz had ties to McKelvin from their days in Buffalo, and it was his decision to make him a starting cornerback from the first day of training camp.
Blame also falls on Roseman, however, who has final say over any personnel move made. The Eagles knew last offseason that they were going to need an upgrade at cornerback, and Roseman green lighted a plan to have McKelvin as their top option.
The Eagles get credit from moving on from the mistake after just one season, but the signing of McKelvin is a major swing-and-miss by Roseman.
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Eliot Shorr-Parks may be reached at eshorrpa@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @EliotShorrParks. Find NJ.com Eagles on Facebook.
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