Seahawks GM John Schneider Reiterates That Re-Signing Byron Maxwell Is Their Top Priority

Seahawks GM John Schneider reiterated Tuesday that re-signing impending free-agent CB Byron Maxwell will be one of the team’s top offseason priorities, per Alex Marvez.

Schneider told reporters pretty much the same thing last week when he met with them for a Q-and-A session.

“Yeah, it is. That quite frankly is one of our first priorities is to talk to Maxie,” Schneider said of retaining Maxell, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “Now I think he like a lot of our other unrestricted guys, I think he is going to be highly sought after and he should be. But we would at least like to have the opportunity to retain him.’’

The Seahawks do have a number of players set to be free agents this March, but Maxwell is clearly the most notable player among this group.

Jason Cole of the Bleacher Report previously mentioned that Seattle is likely to lose Maxwell in free agency, given that a number of team’s a like to have interest in a cornerback of his size and ability.

Cole points out that the Seahawks will need to get a long-term contract in place with QB Russell Wilson as some point, which is expected to leave him among the highest paid players in the game.

However, OverTheCap.com has them projected to have close to $25 million in available cap space to work with, so it’s at least conceivable that they could keep Maxwell, and still lock up Wilson in the coming months.

Maxwell, 26, has played out his four-year, $2,153,452 rookie contract and will now be an unrestricted free agent this March.

In 2014, Maxwell recorded 39 tackles, two interceptions, a fumble recovery and 12 pass defenses over the course of 13 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 45 cornerback out of 108 qualifying players.

We have Maxwell listed as the No. 28 player in our Top 50 Free Agents list.