February 08, 2017
The Eagles' revolving door at cornerback continues. After just one season in Philadelphia, 2016 starting cornerback Leodis McKelvin has been released by the team.
Over the last 10 years, the Eagles have had eight different starting cornerback combinations:
Eagles Week 1 starting corners | CB1 | CB2 |
2016 | Leodis McKelvin | Nolan Carroll |
2015 | Byron Maxwell | Nolan Carroll |
2014 | Cary Williams | Bradley Fletcher |
2013 | Cary Williams | Bradley Fletcher |
2012 | Nnamdi Asomugha | Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie |
2011 | Nnamdi Asomugha | Asante Samuel |
2010 | Asante Samuel | Ellis Hobbs |
2009 | Asante Samuel | Sheldon Brown |
2008 | Asante Samuel | Sheldon Brown |
2007 | Lito Sheppard | Sheldon Brown |
Sadly, one of those combinations was Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher. In 2017, it will be nine combinations in 11 years.
In 2016, McKelvin had 43 tackles and two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown. He was hampered by a hamstring injury for a chunk of the season, however, his play was bad, injury or not. McKelvin had the best season of his career playing for Jim Schwartz with the Buffalo Bills in 2014, but he could not get back to that form after falling down the Bills' depth chart in 2015. At 31 years of age, McKelvin's career was clearly in decline.
In 2017, McKelvin was scheduled to count for $3,450,000 against the salary cap. The Eagles will save $3,200,000 by releasing him, a no-brainer decision.
The remaining Eagles corners are soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Nolan Carroll, Jalen Mills, cap casualty candidate Ron Brooks, C.J. Smith, Dwayne Gratz, Aaron Grymes, and Mitchell White. Clearly, the Eagles have their work cut out for them in trying to repair the corner position yet again this offseason.
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