Eagles roundup: What Mathews’ release means, Jeffery, Darby

Just in case you missed it, the Eagles release Ryan Mathews and announce Alshon Jeffery and Ronald Darby will play Thursday night, and it all happened in a matter of hours.

Fans of the Philadelphia Eagles got an adrenaline rush on Tuesday that would make the creators of any energy drink proud. They made several announcements. First, we learned wide receiver Alshon Jeffery and cornerback Ronald Darby were expected to play against the Buffalo Bills. Shortly thereafter, we also finally saw, at the midway point of August, what they’ve been expecting to see for months. Ryan Mathews was finally cleared medically and released shortly after he was.

Twitter exploded when it was learned that two of the newest Eagles would don those beautiful all-white jerseys for the team’s second preseason game.

Take a look:

The team also released a statement thanking Mathews for his contributions to the team.

Here’s that statement:

What Mathews’ departure means:

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The long-expected move was mostly a decision wrapped in financial and salary cap implications. The immediate question is how much money it frees up. The Eagles save $4 million by giving Mathews his walking papers. That’s an increase over the $2.75 million they would have saved by cutting him while he was still in the recovery process. Those numbers provided by OverTheCap.com, but saving money wasn’t the only reason for his release.

The veteran was entering the final season of a three-year deal he signed in 2015, and there was no reason to believe, with his injury history and fumbling issues, that he factored into the team’s long-term plans. There’s no guarantee he’ll have much of a market going forward.

With their newfound shopping money, the Eagles made another roster move shortly thereafter, re-signing cornerback Mitchell White. He had just been waived two days earlier as the team added wide receiver Rashard Davis to a competition that’s been one of the most interesting of camp.

In reference to both Darby and Jeffery, it will be interesting to see both in a live-action game. Darby joined the team on Friday. Jeffery was held out of the preseason opener at Lambeau Field by team coaches. Make sure you tune in on time because neither will be out there long. Head coach Doug Pederson expects both to play “a series or two”.