The Philadelphia Eagles have announced the signing of free agent guard Evan Mathis to a 5-year, $25 million deal, with a reported $7 million guaranteed. Not bad for a guy who was brought in in the 11th hour last year during a shortened training camp, and who wasn’t even expected to start.
I love this move a lot for several reasons. Not only because Evan Mathis is a more than solid left guard, but because now Todd Herremans can stay at right tackle where he belongs. It also sures up the middle of the line, and will no doubt give Michael Vick some added confidence.
Evan Mathis literally transformed himself from a scrapheap player to a potential Pro-Bowl talent
Mathis, a 7 year veteran was a journeyman for much of his career before starting 15 games last year, and morphing(literally) into one of the Eagles most consistent players. In fact, Greg Cosssell of NFL Network, who is in my opinion, the best NFL analyst out there, actually graded Mathis as the Eagles best offensive lineman last season during end-of-year film study (Yes, even better than Todd Herremans and Jason Peters). Cosell, a senior analyst at NFL Network, watches the same game film as coaches, and watches every snap, of every game, of every player, on every team. He then grades out each player based on an algorithm that includes blown assignments and other factors.
