JGfromtheNW":34rqredu said:
kidhawk":34rqredu said:
JGfromtheNW":34rqredu said:
From what I've seen on reddit from Dolphins fans, Maxwell started out the season not playing very well and it's thought that he's had some type of nagging injury that forced him to the bench early on (I think the first couple games IIRC). They played rookie Cordrea Tankersley in his place and Tankersley has played well enough to hold onto the starting position since.
Still, you'd think there would be more than that. Under normal circumstances you'd be better off to pay him to be on the bench and release him in the offseason. Either way they still are paying his salary. There's just got to be something that isn't being said publicly.
Agreed it's gotta be more than just on-field performance, so I did a little more digging and here's what I'm seeing from phins fans:
1) He doesn't contribute to special teams at all. So if he's riding the bench he's just a really expensive depth player.
2) Salary is too high. Cutting him this year will supposedly save them about $10MM next year.
3) Was virtually a lock to be a cap casualty at the end of the season anyway.
4) There are reports that he was playing whatever coverage/technique he wanted and not following game plans. Especially frustrating was that he was, reportedly, refusing to play any type of press technique and would line up 5+ yards off the LOS/WR every play.
Numbers 2 and 3 (Highlighted in green) make no sense. Just because he's going to be a cap casualty isn't a reason to cut him when you are going to have to pay him for this season either way. Cutting him at the end of the year is exactly the same as cutting him now, except you have someone who can step in for an injury (should one or more occur).
Number 1 really is kind of meaningless in my opinion because he's the same price on the bench as on the market.
The only one that makes any sense (if it's real) is number 4. If he's causing issues within the team dynamic that could be reason enough, even if it is merely to make a point to the rest of the team.