Ryan Mathews to EAGLES / UPDATE He's OUT, now he's IN again (2 Viewers)

[Ron_Mexico]

He's in again.

Eagles signed RB Ryan Mathews, formerly of the Chargers, to a three-year, $11.5 million contract.
It's a deeply bizarre move for a team that just unloaded LeSean McCoy's odious contract before giving
DeMarco Murray $18 million fully guaranteed. It could spell trouble for Darren Sproles' future in Philadelphia,
but it wouldn't be surprising if mad scientist Chip Kelly decides to go with a three-man backfield.
Where that leaves Mathews' role is up for debate. Murray is a far superior early-down runner,
while Sproles is the far superior pass catcher. It's possible Mathews is signing up for a Donald Brown-esque reserve role.
Murray and Mathews both have long injury histories, so perhaps Kelly is just paying a pretty penny to ensure he isn't caught short.
It's up for debate if Kelly's backfield is better off than it was two weeks ago.

Mar 12 - 4:43 PM
Source: Adam Schefter on Twitter

 

[Mystery Achiever]

With every illogical thing hat has occurred his past week, I say Mathews decides to stay and we have a 1-2 thunder and lightning punch that's going for a combined 550 carries.

I could see that, but I guess it depends on what other opportunities might be available to him.

Apparently not much.

Murray and Mathews are probably each thinking they'll have the field to themselves when the other goes down.

 

[Banger]

wow...Matthews goes from a potentially stud situation to worthless in 24 hours.

 

[Zyphros]

I don't understand why Mathews would still sign...

 

[nightmare]

600 carry backfield? 300/200 split? Good for Eagles, bad for FF.

 

[ILUVBEER99]

I don't understand why Mathews would still sign...

There have always been rumors that he doesn't really like playing RB going back to his college days. He's probably happy to collect money and be a backup getting 5-10 touches a game.

 

[Keepers]

I don't understand why Mathews would still sign...

There have always been rumors that he doesn't really like playing RB going back to his college days. He's probably happy to collect money and be a backup getting 5-10 touches a game.

Sign me up!!

 

[BigDave]

I see Cowboys sneaking in and taking Mathews at the same money. Great place for Mathews behind that line as lead back.

 

[Banger]

I see Cowboys sneaking in and taking Mathews at the same money. Great place for Mathews behind that line as lead back.

too late.

 

[12punch]

I don't understand why Mathews would still sign...

has to be money --- I assume he just wasn't getting comparable offers.

there's a case to be made for playing for your next deal, but maybe he isn't expecting another one.

 

[12punch]

With every illogical thing hat has occurred his past week, I say Mathews decides to stay and we have a 1-2 thunder and lightning punch that's going for a combined 550 carries.

I could see that, but I guess it depends on what other opportunities might be available to him.

Apparently not much.

Murray and Mathews are probably each thinking they'll have the field to themselves when the other goes down.

joke'll be on them when they both go down and whatshisname cleans up

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Chris Polk has to be thrilled.

 

[jurb26]

Maybe Kelly is going to try and further turn this Eagles offense into the Oregon offense. They use RBs all over the field, including at WR.

 

[cstu]

I don't understand why Mathews would still sign...

He's about to earn $50,000 per carry (if he stays healthy).

 

[Slider]

Mathews wasn't going to be a bell cow anywhere so he went to the exciting O that made Sproles look 25 again and is going to see what happens.

 

[BoltBacker]

I don't understand most of the posts in here.

(Murray+Mathews)>>>McCoy for roughly the same $

PHI wants to run the ball 450+ times and does anyone want to guess how many rushes Mathews averages a year? At this point in his career Sproles shouldn't be counted on for even 50 carries.

I believe Chip's plan is to draft a RB. Doesn't make sense to let one high priced RB go to sign another. I agree Mathews isn't the answer but he gave them a cheap vet RB.

While this opinion appears to be in the majority, I still don't understand it.

PHI was scheduled to McCoy $10-11mil in 2015.

Instead PHI will be paying Murray, Mathews, and Alonso ~$11mil. How is that not a no-brainer upgrade? Yeah, the unloaded one high priced super star RB to sign another, AND added the best backup RB in the league, AND added what will be one of the key pieces of the defense for the same money. If you need a cherry on top they sent McCoy to the AFC while stealing Murray from their biggest rival in the NFC East.

Perfect situation for Murray(16-18 carries/game after a year of monstrous number of carries last year, behind another great run blocking OL)

Perfect situation for Mathews(11-13 carries/game behind the best run blocking line he has ever seen and won't be asked to take on a full work load which he's proven over and over he can't handle)

Sproles can cut back to almost a pure receiving back role(1-3 carries a game on the occasional draw play against a nickel/dime defense)

Polk as the backup.

Seems like the perfect setup to me for a team that wants to run 500 times a season. I guess people think McCoy is so much better than Murray but I just don't see it. Overall I can't figure out what all the hand wringing is about what Chip Kelly is doing. I understand the fantasy football wonks going crazy but the Eagles are much stronger this year than last year imo.

I think you and I both agree on a general philosophy of young/cheap RB's but this is an Eagles offense that revolves around the success of the run game and a high volume of rushing attempts. People act like Murray is on his last legs after last season but McCoy had back-to-back 300+ carry seasons himself and didn't look nearly as good as Murray despite the fact they both played behind very good run blocking OL's. You ARE NOT trading one star RB for another, you are trading one star running back for three guys.... one of them being a star RB.

 

[BoltBacker]

Mathews wasn't going to be a bell cow anywhere so he went to the exciting O that made Sproles look 25 again and is going to see what happens.

Exactly. Mathews has been a bell cow RB for one month(then promptly had to sit out the playoffs) and for part of a preseason game(before Norv Turner realized just because you call him a bell cow, doesn't mean he is a bell cow, we need more bell cow). The MYTH is people never gave him the chance to carry the ball more.

This is the best situation of his career and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has the best statistical year of his career. He's a major buy low in FF right now imo.

 

[Insein]

Yea. He's the 2nd RB. He has no pressure to carry a team like he was expected to in SD. He has no impossible ghost to live up to like LT. Guy can just wait his turn, produce and take a break.

 

[shadyridr]

Talk about the epitome of this guys career. No heart

 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

Mathews wasn't going to be a bell cow anywhere so he went to the exciting O that made Sproles look 25 again and is going to see what happens.

Exactly. Mathews has been a bell cow RB for one month(then promptly had to sit out the playoffs) and for part of a preseason game(before Norv Turner realized just because you call him a bell cow, doesn't mean he is a bell cow, we need more bell cow). The MYTH is people never gave him the chance to carry the ball more.

This is the best situation of his career and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has the best statistical year of his career. He's a major buy low in FF right now imo.

Chip Kelly's got a fever, and the only prescription is ... MORE BELLCOW.

 

[ghostguy123]

This is the best situation of his career and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has the best statistical year of his career. He's a major buy low in FF right now imo.

Umm, pretty sure this is NOT the best situation of his career, unless Murray gets hurt.

I would be totally shocked if this was his BEST statistical year

 

[ghostguy123]

Mathews wasn't going to be a bell cow anywhere so he went to the exciting O that made Sproles look 25 again and is going to see what happens.

Exactly. Mathews has been a bell cow RB for one month(then promptly had to sit out the playoffs) and for part of a preseason game(before Norv Turner realized just because you call him a bell cow, doesn't mean he is a bell cow, we need more bell cow). The MYTH is people never gave him the chance to carry the ball more.

This is the best situation of his career and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has the best statistical year of his career. He's a major buy low in FF right now imo.

OChip Kelly's got a fever, and the only prescription is ... MORE BELLCoW.

I hope this catches on

 

[BigSteelThrill]

This is the best situation of his career and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has the best statistical year of his career. He's a major buy low in FF right now imo.

Umm, pretty sure this is NOT the best situation of his career, unless Murray gets hurt.

I would be totally shocked if this was his BEST statistical year

This. Ryan is purely a back up at this point. His best bet is to get 1 series in a half sans injuries.

 

[BoltBacker]

Two questions...

- How many carries do you think Mathews has averaged per season over his career?

- Gives us what you think the carry breakdown will be in Philly this season? No other stats just number of carries of the entire PHI backfield.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

Two questions...

- How many carries do you think Mathews has averaged per season over his career?

- Gives us what you think the carry breakdown will be in Philly this season? No other stats just number of carries of the entire PHI backfield.

- He has averaged 15.3833 rushes per game. At 4.4 a carry.

-- He averages over 1 "pull myself out of a game" per contest.

- McCoy finished 3rd in rushing @ 4.2. The team had 29.6 rushes per game.

-- 20 for Murray. 5 for Sproles. 7 for Mathews. That still remains a 72 carry drop off for Murray. 320 vs 80 vs 105.

 

[BoltBacker]

Close.

Mathews has averaged 184carries/season in SD.

You are suggesting...

Murray = 320

Even when McCoy was being backed up by Polk he never reached 320 carries, much less after a season where he's coming off 390+ carries. Murray may have had 390+ carries in '14, second highest total in a season before that...? 217.

Sproles = 80

Well, while in a backfield with McCoy/Polk he only managed 57 carries. MAYBE behind Murray/Mathews it will cause a sizeable increase in carries. Or maybe the fact he'll turn 32 by game 1 means he'll creep closer to 100 carries as his body drifts towards his mid-30's. Maybe.

I dunno, both seem unlikely to me.

 

[Casting Couch]

Close.

Mathews has averaged 184carries/season in SD.

You are suggesting...

Murray = 320

Even when McCoy was being backed up by Polk he never reached 320 carries, much less after a season where he's coming off 390+ carries.

Sproles = 80

Well, while in a backfield with McCoy/Polk he only managed 57 carries. MAYBE behind Murray/Mathews it will cause a sizeable increase in carries. Or maybe the fact he'll turn 32 by game 1 means he'll creep closer to 100 carries as his body drifts towards his mid-30's. Maybe.

I dunno, both seem unlikely to me.

Two questions...

- How many carries do you think Mathews has averaged per season over his career?

- Gives us what you think the carry breakdown will be in Philly this season? No other stats just number of carries of the entire PHI backfield.

- He has averaged 15.3833 rushes per game. At 4.4 a carry.

-- He averages over 1 "pull myself out of a game" per contest.

- McCoy finished 3rd in rushing @ 4.2. The team had 29.6 rushes per game.

-- 20 for Murray. 5 for Sproles. 7 for Mathews. That still remains a 72 carry drop off for Murray. 320 vs 80 vs 105.

Wow, I just don't see this happening. They will not pay Mathews close to 4 MIL per season to run the ball 7 times per game.

This is a disaster for both RBs fantasywise.

Murray 265

Mathews 185

Sproles 65

.

 

[cstu]

- McCoy finished 3rd in rushing @ 4.2. The team had 29.6 rushes per game.

Those numbers include the QB. The RB's averaged 26.3 rushes per game.

 

[Casting Couch]

Close.

Mathews has averaged 184carries/season in SD.

You are suggesting...

Murray = 320

Even when McCoy was being backed up by Polk he never reached 320 carries, much less after a season where he's coming off 390+ carries.

Sproles = 80

Well, while in a backfield with McCoy/Polk he only managed 57 carries. MAYBE behind Murray/Mathews it will cause a sizeable increase in carries. Or maybe the fact he'll turn 32 by game 1 means he'll creep closer to 100 carries as his body drifts towards his mid-30's. Maybe.

I dunno, both seem unlikely to me.

Two questions...

- How many carries do you think Mathews has averaged per season over his career?

- Gives us what you think the carry breakdown will be in Philly this season? No other stats just number of carries of the entire PHI backfield.

- He has averaged 15.3833 rushes per game. At 4.4 a carry.

-- He averages over 1 "pull myself out of a game" per contest.

- McCoy finished 3rd in rushing @ 4.2. The team had 29.6 rushes per game.

-- 20 for Murray. 5 for Sproles. 7 for Mathews. That still remains a 72 carry drop off for Murray. 320 vs 80 vs 105.

Wow, I just don't see this happening. They will not pay Mathews close to 4 MIL per season to run the ball 7 times per game.

This is a disaster for both RBs fantasywise.

Murray 265

Mathews 185

Sproles 65

.

... and this is bumping it up to 32+ RB carries per game.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

- McCoy finished 3rd in rushing @ 4.2. The team had 29.6 rushes per game.

Those numbers include the QB. The RB's averaged 26.3 rushes per game.

Good catch.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

.
... and this is bumping it up to 32+ RB carries per game.

I was giving them just over 2 more carries per game on the season. So 28.5 or so.

I will eat a FBGs shirt if Mathews gets close to 200 (185?) carries without a Murray injury.

 

[Donnybrook]

I don't understand why Mathews would still sign...

He is rumored to be getting 7.5 M guaranteed. I guess for Mathews it is great money if you are only a part-time back. Maybe he realizes what he is - a third down back and doesn't mind not being the work horse.

 

[FF Ninja]

Mathews wasn't going to be a bell cow anywhere so he went to the exciting O that made Sproles look 25 again and is going to see what happens.

Exactly. Mathews has been a bell cow RB for one month(then promptly had to sit out the playoffs) and for part of a preseason game(before Norv Turner realized just because you call him a bell cow, doesn't mean he is a bell cow, we need more bell cow). The MYTH is people never gave him the chance to carry the ball more.

This is the best situation of his career and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has the best statistical year of his career. He's a major buy low in FF right now imo.

Geez. There is so much butt hurt in all your comments about Mathews. Just leave and never click on another thread involving him. We get it. You bought him as a rookie and you're forever butt hurt.

 

[Hoosier16]

PHI was scheduled to McCoy $10-11mil in 2015.

Instead PHI will be paying Murray, Mathews, and Alonso ~$11mil.

How do you figure? While we don't know the contract particulars yet, Murray will be making an average of $8.4 mil, Mathews an average of $3.8 mil, and Alonzo about $0.8 mil. That's about $13 mil per year. Tack on to that another $3.4 in dead money for McCoy. In addition, McCoy is younger than both Murray and Mathews. He also has a cleaner injury history than either of those two. And, for 2016 and 2017, he would have made less money than they are paying Murray with none of it guaranteed.

 

[Snotbubbles]

PHI was scheduled to McCoy $10-11mil in 2015.

Instead PHI will be paying Murray, Mathews, and Alonso ~$11mil.

How do you figure? While we don't know the contract particulars yet, Murray will be making an average of $8.4 mil, Mathews an average of $3.8 mil, and Alonzo about $0.8 mil. That's about $13 mil per year. Tack on to that another $3.4 in dead money for McCoy. In addition, McCoy is younger than both Murray and Mathews. He also has a cleaner injury history than either of those two. And, for 2016 and 2017, he would have made less money than they are paying Murray with none of it guaranteed.

Do you have the contract numbers for Murray and Matthews? Curious to see the structure because that will really tell the story.

While McCoy has the cleaner injury history, he also has a lot more touches. He was noticeably not as quick last year and had many people in Philly questioning if he was on the decline.

 

[cstu]

PHI was scheduled to McCoy $10-11mil in 2015.

Instead PHI will be paying Murray, Mathews, and Alonso ~$11mil.

How do you figure? While we don't know the contract particulars yet, Murray will be making an average of $8.4 mil, Mathews an average of $3.8 mil, and Alonzo about $0.8 mil. That's about $13 mil per year. Tack on to that another $3.4 in dead money for McCoy. In addition, McCoy is younger than both Murray and Mathews. He also has a cleaner injury history than either of those two. And, for 2016 and 2017, he would have made less money than they are paying Murray with none of it guaranteed.

Do you have the contract numbers for Murray and Matthews? Curious to see the structure because that will really tell the story.

While McCoy has the cleaner injury history, he also has a lot more touches. He was noticeably not as quick last year and had many people in Philly questioning if he was on the decline.

Don't believe Murray's details are out yet but Mathews is basically a 2 year/$7M deal with a cap hit of $2M this year.

 

[Coeur de Lion]

Talk about the epitome of this guys career. No heart

Ehhh... if I were an NFL RB, a decent 200 touch role on a good team making $4 million / year, plus being able to actually walk at 40, would look pretty good to me vs. a little more $ and getting my body totally destroyed in a featured role while winning three games a year on the Raiders / Jags / etc.

 

[BoltBacker]

PHI was scheduled to McCoy $10-11mil in 2015.

Instead PHI will be paying Murray, Mathews, and Alonso ~$11mil.

How do you figure? While we don't know the contract particulars yet, Murray will be making an average of $8.4 mil, Mathews an average of $3.8 mil, and Alonzo about $0.8 mil. That's about $13 mil per year. Tack on to that another $3.4 in dead money for McCoy. In addition, McCoy is younger than both Murray and Mathews. He also has a cleaner injury history than either of those two. And, for 2016 and 2017, he would have made less money than they are paying Murray with none of it guaranteed.

You make a great point about the $3.4mil in dead money for McCoy, I didn't account for that. Between that dead money, Mathews $2mil this season, and less than a million for Alonso you are talking about ~$6mil this year. We don't know what they Murray details are yet but I would be willing to bet you a LOT of money that he will not count $8.4mil against the cap this year. No way.

As for future years, meh we never know until we see the contract details. The life of an NFL RB is right now. By 2017 neither of them may be on their current team. I assume McCoy wanted more since.... well, he wanted more money when he arrived in BUF. And that was after a down year compared to the previous year. Murray/Mathews give PHI a much better chance at ~400 carries, 2k yards than McCoy alone. As I said before weakening the Cowboys and obtaining one of the keys to your defense make this swap a no-brainer imo.

Good catch with regard to the dead money, didn't even think of that.

 

[BoltBacker]

Mathews wasn't going to be a bell cow anywhere so he went to the exciting O that made Sproles look 25 again and is going to see what happens.

Exactly. Mathews has been a bell cow RB for one month(then promptly had to sit out the playoffs) and for part of a preseason game(before Norv Turner realized just because you call him a bell cow, doesn't mean he is a bell cow, we need more bell cow). The MYTH is people never gave him the chance to carry the ball more.

This is the best situation of his career and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has the best statistical year of his career. He's a major buy low in FF right now imo.

Geez. There is so much butt hurt in all your comments about Mathews. Just leave and never click on another thread involving him. We get it. You bought him as a rookie and you're forever butt hurt.

At least pretend to be making a post about football and post what you think the carry breakdown will be in the PHI backfield this season. The grownups are talking about football in this forum. Yes, we know you are sure that Mathews is a 20+ carry/game back and not ONE coaching staff but the third out of three coaching staffs clearly disagree with you.

If you don't want to talk about football that is fine, but I assume there are other message boards around the internet for your thoughtful butt related insights. Why don't you go poking around those if that's more to your tastes?

 

[BoltBacker]

While McCoy has the cleaner injury history, he also has a lot more touches. He was noticeably not as quick last year and had many people in Philly questioning if he was on the decline.

Agreed.

With RB's I'm not even sure how much the 2017 contract details even mean. By 2015, 2016, 2017 who knows what players will still be playing well or even on the same team. People forget it was just three years ago that Chris Johnson was a 1200+ yard back with 4.5 yards/carry.

McCoy is getting $26.5 million GUARANTEED in the new contract he DEMANDED and Murray is getting $21 million in GUARANTEED contract in the new contract EARNED on the open market.

 

[Freelove]

I think the bizarre thing is that it was evident PHI had holes to fill, and moving on from McCoy seemed like a reasonable way to do it, IF, as Kelly said, he could take any old sack of turds and turn it into an all pro running game.

Then, no sooner does he send Shady packing than he signs up not one but TWO pedigreed NFL starting RB's, resulting in an effective positional savings of jack-squat, while simultaneously ransacking the entire passing game, adding every high-priced injury-riddled player in FA, and laying the groundwork for team divisiveness should the RB's prove unhappy with limited touches (a stretch in the ego-free NFL, I know).

I know some fans are bullish on Alonso, but I fear some of that zeal may be stat-driven, based on a huge tackle total his rookie year in BUF. But I'd caution fans to be very wary overvaluing tackle stats coming out of BUF. About 40% of his tackles were assists, and those are HIGHLY dependent on the team scorers. BUF has always dished out assists like candy. Chris Spielman and London Fletcher are still getting credit for assists.

The team had pretty clearly moved on, and were a much stouter unit without him. You're getting a player who's pretty active, but whose greatest skill just may be hopping on the dogpile to get his name in the stat sheet.

 

[ryno1980]

Ransacking the passing game? Jordan Matthews looked really good as a rookie, still have Riley Cooper as a serviceable WR option on top of two pretty good tight ends. Drafting a receiver seems like a good idea, but I wouldn't have wanted to pay $11 million for Maclin if I were the Eagles.

While I'm purely speculating, Mathews wouldn't be in Philly if he wasn't fine with being the lesser part of a RBBC.

 

[BoltBacker]

while simultaneously ransacking the entire passing game

Can you unpack this a little bit?

Is refusing to sign Jeremy Maclin to a 5yr/$55mil contract is "ransacking the entire passing game", then I would be all for it.

Besides, didn't Chip already ransack the passing game last year when he refused to give DeSean Jackson a big extension? Everyone said the Eagles passing game had nothing left after he departed, right?

 

[Donnybrook]

I don't understand why Mathews would still sign...

He is rumored to be getting 7.5 M guaranteed. I guess for Mathews it is great money if you are only a part-time back. Maybe he realizes what he is - a third down back and doesn't mind not being the work horse.

He actually only got 5 m guaranteed. Contract breakdown here: http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/ryan-mathews/

 

[cstu]

I don't understand why Mathews would still sign...

He is rumored to be getting 7.5 M guaranteed. I guess for Mathews it is great money if you are only a part-time back. Maybe he realizes what he is - a third down back and doesn't mind not being the work horse.

He actually only got 5 m guaranteed. Contract breakdown here: http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/ryan-mathews/

It's a 2 year/$7M deal. Barring utter failure he'll be back in 2016.

 

[unckeyherb]

chip wants to run the ball 30 times a game. More importantly he wants to do it quickly. Having two interchangeable high quality (and rested) RBs banging away on tired defenses is exactly what he wants to do. Look to the fourth down run last year in week one by Sproles. Tired defense, quick to the line, fresh legs. This is what Chip Kelly's wants to do all game.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-cant-miss-plays/0ap3000000390570/Wk-1-Can-t-Miss-Play-Sproles-on-the-roll

Imagine what teams will look like in the fourth quarter after getting hammered all game by a hurry up offense and Murray and Mathews. Then start hitting bubble screens to sproles.

 

[ghostguy123]

Talk about the epitome of this guys career. No heart

This might be one of the worst posts to ever hit the internet

 

[BoltBacker]

Wow, the more I hear McCoy sound like a jilted GF every week the move(s) seems that much smarter for Chip. I think this Chip witch hunt in the media boils down to a lot of ex-player "analysts" not liking the fact PHI seemed to have success moving past D.Jax and not giving him the money he felt he deserved, and look to be poised to do the same thing after McCoy is gone.