The Philadelphia Eagles Should Not Have Cut Evan Mathis

Credit: Jeffrey G. Pittenger-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Eagles have just released offensive guard Evan Mathis and I believe that they made the complete wrong decision. The Eagles and Mathis have clearly not been on the same page this offseason over Mathis’ contract and he decided not to turn up for voluntarily OTAs to prove a point. The Eagles had absolutely all the leverage in this situation and it is why I believed they made the wrong decision.

Evan Mathis was not like DeSean Jackson or LeSean McCoy.

More from Eagles News

This is a completely different situation to those two players. There are no reports that suggest he ever antagonized other players, split the locker room or did not buy in to Chip Kelly’s way of doing things. Mathis was a good locker room guy and was in great shape, he bought in to Chip Kelly’s program. Technically, Mathis did not hold out either, he only ever missed voluntary practices. I don’t think his contract situation negatively affected the Eagles in any way and according to Geoff Mosher, he was going to show up for practice as early as next week.

Just asked Evan Mahtis if he had planned to show up next week. Response via text: "Yep. Flight was scheduled for Monday."
— Geoff Mosher (@GeoffPMosher) June 11, 2015

I do not need to discuss how good Evan Mathis is or how highly Pro Football Focus think of him, I am sure you already know how good he is. Whatever way you look at it, the Eagles lost a very talented player. In addition to this, they don’t even have a starting calibre back up who can easily fill the void left by releasing him. In Chip Kelly’s first season, the Eagles offense was so dominant because they had the best offensive line in football. They do not anymore.

Really though, what was the point of cutting Evan Mathis? We saved about $5m this season, what great unsigned free agent are we spending that money on? How does that improve the team? Was that extra money really worth not having Mathis on the field next season? It also sets out a negative example to the rest of the team as Sheil Kapadia points out, if you want a better contract just don’t show up to voluntarily OTAs and you can have a chance at getting one with another team.

Also seems to set bad precedent: Eagles player unhappy with your deal? Don't show up, piss coach off, and you can get what you want.
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) June 11, 2015

If the Eagles suffer a couple of injuries next season on the offensive line, their line will start to look very shaky. Considering the Eagles plan next season will be to run the ball a lot, that’s not exactly ideal. Additionally, your starting quarterback in Sam Bradford has suffered two torn ACLs over the past two seasons so protecting him is extremely important next season. Mathis has been one of, if not the best, pass blocking guard in the NFL since Chip Kelly has taken over as head coach.

I am sure the Eagles offense will be fine without Mathis. I trust in the players they have now. I just do not like losing great (possibly elite) football players for nothing and for pretty much no reason. Nobody can convince me that the Eagles have actually got better as a team by releasing Mathis. Isn’t that what everything should be about, getting better and improving as a football team? The Eagles haven’t done that, by releasing Mathis they have gone backwards.

Next: The Philadelphia Eagles Release Evan Mathis

More from Inside the Iggles

Home/Eagles News