Jeremy Maclin surprised a lot of people when he chose to sign with the Baltimore Ravens instead of the Buffalo Bills. His close friend and former Philadelphia Eagles teammate LeSean McCoy was trying to get him to come to Buffalo, and that seemed his likely destination. However, there were two big reasons that Maclin chose the Ravens over the Bills for his new home. The first is the money. The second is the fact that Maclin said, “it just felt right” for him to play in Baltimore.
Jeremy Maclin’s contract
While it is unknown what the Buffalo Bills were offering Jeremy Maclin, the Baltimore Ravens gave him a nice contract.
The 29-year-old receiver had a nice contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs signed him in 2015 to a five-year deal worth $55 million with $22.5 million guaranteed. However, the Chiefs cut him after two seasons in order to free up $10 million in cap space. With that big contract behind him, Maclin signed a two-year deal worth $11 million with the Ravens, with $6 million of that money guaranteed.
That contract pays Jeremy Maclin just $500,000 less than Mike Wallace, the man who will line up across from him in the Baltimore Ravens offense this season. The two receivers are the only real veterans in a young Ravens’ wide receiver corps.
Jeremy Maclin’s comments
Outside of the money, Jeremy Maclin said it just felt right to be joining the Baltimore Ravens.
Maclin said he was hurt after the Kansas City Chiefs released him and he wanted to take the weekend to consider his options before coming to a decision. While LeSean McCoy made the very public recruitment call on Twitter for Maclin to join the Buffalo Bills, Jeremy said that the Ravens were one of the first teams to officially reach out to him after the Chiefs released him.
Jeremy Maclin met with the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles, his former team before the Kansas City Chiefs, and chose to head to the Baltimore Ravens to continue his career. One of the reasons for choosing the Ravens might have to do with playoff potential as well. While the Eagles have a promising young quarterback in Carson Wentz, he is still unproven.
The Buffalo Bills have not been consistently successful since the ‘90s. However, the Ravens have a Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Joe Flacco.
It was Joe Flacco who sent Jeremy Maclin a text message while he was visiting with the Buffalo Bills to make sure he would give the Baltimore Ravens a chance as well. Tony Jefferson, who also signed with the Ravens as a free agent, invited Maclin to his home to watch the NBA Finals and talk about joining the team. These all played a part in Jeremy feeling like Baltimore was the place for him.
