The Kansas City Chiefs cut former Pro Bowl wide receiver Jeremy Maclin on Saturday, puzzling football fans around the nation. Maclin was headed into the third year of a five-year, $55 million contract.
Though the move was motivated by financial decisions, the Chiefs lost one of their most talented players to make just enough cap room to sign their rookies. Connor Cape, former Kansas City sports reporter and current host The Connor Cape Show on Mile High Sports Am 1340 | FM 104.7 was dumbfounded by the Chiefs’ decision.
“For me, it was an eyebrow raiser because Jeremy Maclin was far and away the most talented receiver on the Chiefs’ roster,” Cape said Saturday. “One of their weaknesses was already wide receiver because they didn’t have a great number two. Now [Tyreek Hill] is [their] best receiver, and [he’s] basically a scat back.”
Hampered by injury last season, Maclin was limited to 536 yards and two touchdowns on 44 receptions. But in his first season after coming over from the Eagles, Maclin nearly doubled all of those stats, amassing 87 receptions for 1,088 yards and eight touchdowns.
Were the Chiefs a declining team with very few assets in desperate need of a rebuild, the move would have been more logical. But the reigning AFC West champions are filled with talented players, many of which are in the prime of their playing careers.
“They just won the division. Justin Houston is finally healthy,” Cape said. “You have these guys who are playing some of the best football they’ve played … A lot of guys who are in win-now mode. This move is not a win-now kind of move.”
The move is presumably a positive one for the Broncos, as one of the best teams in the division is left without a prototypical number-one receiving option. Maclin’s release depletes an already thin group of playmakers the Broncos will have to compete against.
Listen to the full discussion below, including Cape’s thoughts on how big of an injustice this was to Maclin, in the podcast below.
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