WR Maclin leaving Eagles for Chiefs
— -- The wild ride of subtraction and addition will apparently continue with the Philadelphia Eagles because receiver Jeremy Maclin plans to reunite with former coach Andy Reid on the Kansas City Chiefs once free agency officially begins on Tuesday, according to league sources.
The Chiefs will need to clear salary-cap space to sign Maclin, whose new contract would project in the range of what Randall Cobb received to stay with the Green Bay Packers at $10 million per year. It's possible Maclin could slightly exceed Cobb's salary when negotiations are finished. Unlike Cobb, who chose to remain with his team, the Green Bay Packers, Maclin is prepared to depart Philadelphia, coming off his best season, in which he had 85 catches for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns. Maclin played on a one-year, $5.25 million contract in 2014 after missing 2013 with an ACL injury.
Reid was the head coach when the Eagles drafted Maclin in 2009 out of the University of Missouri. Maclin turns 27 on May 11.
One candidate to become a cap casualty for the Chiefs is veteran receiver Dwayne Bowe, who counts $14 million against the team's salary cap for 2015. Bowe would represent a $5 million cap savings if he's counted as a pre-June 1 cut and $11 million if he receives a post-June 1 designated cut.
The Chiefs did not have a receiver with a single touchdown catch in 2014.
It will be the second straight offseason the Eagles have lost their leading receiver. They chose to cut DeSean Jackson shortly after the 2013 season. This time, the Eagles made an effort to sign Maclin, but negotiations slowed considerably once he began communicating other teams.
