Report: Seahawks bringing in Byron Maxwell for a tryout

Former Seattle Seahawks cornerback Byron Maxwell may not be “former” for much longer. The definitely former Miami Dolphins cornerback is reportedly coming in for a tryout, alongside Trovon Reed, who is also a former Seahawk.

Maxwell played in Seattle from 2011-2014, helping the team reach two Super Bowls, and advancing his game to be perhaps the best cornerback to play alongside Richard Sherman so far in his career. But now that Sherman is out for the rest of the year with a torn Achilles, the Seahawks are searching for help to ease the burden on rookie Shaquill Griffin, as well as Justin Coleman and Jeremy Lane. Maxwell signed a six-year, $63 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015, but was a pretty immediate non-fit and was traded to the Dolphins after one season.

Miami released Maxwell after he had played in just 15 games over less than 1.5 years. However, a return to Seattle may bring about a return in his former value as a very good cornerback, just based on the fact that we seem to see this sort of thing all the time: Player excels in a system on a team, becomes a free agent they can’t afford, he goes and signs a big contract, and then returns home to the same system to be close to the same player he once was.

The first name to pop in my head is Michael Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals, but there are many more examples. Deion Branch is another. Other times, it’s just finding the right change of scenery after your first big team switch was a disaster, such as Randy Moss’s horrible stint in Oakland or DeMarco Murray’s failed season with the Eagles.

The Seahawks have tried Maxwell, Lane, and DeShawn Shead as number two corners alongside Sherman — now they might just have all three for the home stretch and no Sherman. Or it could be Trovon Reed.

The former undrafted free agent out of Auburn signed with the Seahawks in 2015 initially, then was on the practice squads for the Rams and Dolphins before returning to Seattle. He was on their practice squad, signed a futures deal, then landed on injured reserve before getting released last September. He then signed with the Chargers and ended up playing in six games, making two interceptions in that brief amount of time. He was 5’11, 191 at his pro day, running a 4.54 with a 35.5” vertical and a 10’1 broad jump.

It certainly looks like the Seahawks are going to sign a corner to help them out over the next seven games, and they’ve got two former Seattle players — of much different experience levels — in to start their search. The hope for most is probably Byron, but the Seahawks clearly aren’t going to immediately jump to him without seeing all of their options.

Luckily, there are options.