Jordan Matthews Update
Posted: June 4th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 109 Comments »Rookie receiver Jordan Matthews wasn’t at practice when the media got to watch last week, but he was there on Monday and the reviews were positive.
— We got our first glimpse of rookie Jordan Matthews and he looked good … running around in shorts. OK, so it’s way too early to judge the second round receiver, but Matthews didn’t look overmatched by any means. He ran with the second team offense in the slot behind Brad Smith. Matthews kept running after nearly every catch, all the way to the end zone, even though the plays technically end without contact. It’s nice to see that kind of effort from a rookie. Matthews, who missed last Thursday to attend a rookie symposium in Los Angeles, spent about an extra 15 minutes working with quarterback Mark Sanchez after practice. I’ll have more on Matthews and his chances of winning the slot receiver spot in a column for tomorrow’s paper. – Jeff McLane
And…
• Jordan Matthews practices his ass off. After his reps he sprints back to the sidelines. It almost reminds me of when the 49ers’ Aldon Smith used to sprint back to his seat on the bench after a series ending sack. – Jimmy Bama
Jimmy always finds interesting perspective.
Monday offered the media its first opportunity to watch rookie wide receiver Jordan Matthews in action after he was selected by the Eagles in the second round of the NFL Draft. Matthews worked exclusively out of the slot with the second-team offense. On the last second-team rep during an 11-on-11 drill, Matthews caught a pop pass from quarterback Mark Sanchez and raced down the middle of the field for the touchdown. In fact, he ran every catch to the end zone. Matthews also was part of the crowd of players who fielded punts which included, in no particular order, Darren Sproles, Riley Cooper and Damaris Johnson. – PE.com
The Eagles need help on STs so it is good to see Matthews getting some work as a RS.
• Jordan Matthews also spent some time as the slot receiver, which is where Chip Kelly suggested the Eagles would use him shortly Matthews was drafted. Matthews is very fun to watch. When he catches a pass, he typically runs 10 yards or more down the field after the play is over just because he likes to finish the play hard. Then he sprints back to the huddle for the next rep. His hustle and work ethic is something that Eagles fans should appreciate. – Brandon Lee Gowton
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There is no doubt that Matthews will do everything in his power to succeed, but effort isn’t enough in the NFL. Luckily, Matthews has size, skill and athleticism to go with his work ethic. He will be counted on a lot as a rookie and his future is wide open. He could be the primary slot receiver. He could win a starting job and produce good numbers right away. Or Matthews could be slow to adjust and get lost in the shuffle with Josh Huff, Brad Smith and Arrelious Been.
I don’t think the NFL will overwhelm Matthews. I get the feeling he’s one of those guys will make his presence felt pretty quickly.
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Jeff McLane wrote an article about Matthews and his quest to become the starting slot receiver.
The Eagles also have a chance to get more production out of the position. Avant caught only 31 of 62 targeted passes for 404 yards out of the slot in 2013. The year before, he pulled in 51 of 67 targeted throws for 598 yards.
DeSean Jackson ran the second-most routes (144) out of the slot and had 28 catches for 373 yards from that spot in 2013. Tight end Zach Ertz (15 catches for 178 yards) can pick up some of the slack, as can Jeremy Maclin (27 catches for 385 yards out of the slot in 2012), but coach Chip Kelly has been touting Matthews’ skill set as ideal for playing inside.
“You’ve got to be physical,” the 6-foot-3, 212-pound Matthews said after Monday’s practice. “There’s going to be a lot of big guys in there.”
Matthews caught more than a handful of passes over the middle from second-string quarterback Mark Sanchez on Monday. He hustled to the sideline each time his unit took a rest.
“Since middle school, I’ve done that,” said Matthews, who stayed after practice to catch more passes from Sanchez. “It’s not like something I decided to do on a whim. It’s who I am.”
Avant was a good slot receiver for the Eagles. Matthews has a chance to be much better. He won’t be as dynamic of a route-runner, but Matthews will be infinitely more dangerous with the ball in his hands. That should increase the number of big plays the Eagles get from the slot position.
Avant had 2 career catches that went for 40 or more yards. He could get you 10, even 20 yards. But Avant wasn’t going to deliver the truly big plays. He was just too slow.
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For him, it’s really all about next year. What I want, ideally, to happen is that he displace Riley Cooper (or challenge Cooper/Benn to the point of affirmatively skilled and well rounded number 2/3). Probably won’t happen very quickly, though.
Sadly, I think we’ve all worked with a few affirmatively skilled, well rounded number 2’s…
It is when the number 2 isn’t well rounded that it can really be a pain in the ass.
I think we will regret a big and slow #2, I’m all about the quick, small, and slippery #2’s that can still make a splash.
just not a big splash!
You set off a chain reaction of sh*t jokes. Excellent work. I’m laughing my ass off.
You mean replace Maclin.
Yes — but I fully expect him to contribute(as much as possible for a rook) this year. Next year doesn’t mean much if he doesn’t build the foundation this year. Can’t assume he will.
Think we will always see rookies contributing under Chip. Think his offense is very player friendly and he can dumb it down so that young players can contribute right away….Chip also brought a lot of spread concepts that guys have experienced in college.. Where has Andy Reid is drafting kids, many of whom never seen a Westcoast offense during their college career…
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Ertz was able to contribute as a rook. See no reason why Jordan can’t contribute in a similar capacity as Ertz
Despite all the talk, this team is so deep at receiver. Maclin, Cooper, Matthews, Huff, Smith, and Benn. While I think we would be in trouble if Mac went down, I’m impressed by the depth. Plus, Sproles and Ertz can be weapons in the receiving game. Should be fun.
I wonder if DJ can push any of those wr’s….
I think we need to let it go, Dion Jordan isn’t coming to Philly.
How can anyone think that this guy is funny?
You forgot your italics!
and… i just tried it and it didnt work sad face
Nice try, but she promised she would have an Eagles-related name, to blend in.
I Think we are loaded with 2nd and 3rd-type receiver talents (for this year anyway, the rooks will develop I think) 6 WR deep, which is pretty good. I think the real strength of our pass game is that we are deadly at all the other positions as well with guys like Ertz, Shady, and Sproles running around. Hell you can’t forget Celek either, doesn’t happen regularly (possibly because of his blocking assignments?) but he will gash a defense.
People tend to underrate Celek. The guy can do everything run, block, catch and I love how he runs over DBs… You can put him in any formation and the defense does not know what he is going to do. Ertz on the other hand the defense knows he is most likely going to be a receiver. People forget when Celek first came into the league he was a very poor blocker and has worked hard at his craft.
Have a feeling James Casey and Brad Smith will be weapons that we aren’t factoring into our projections,…
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Word is that Brad Smith is looking awesome as the first team slot WR and has developed some nice chemistry with FOles. Dude was added mid season, we are very different from every other organization, dude had to learn our offense. How we communicate, how we train in the middle of the season and we saw our coach still use him in some important plays like QB in the redzone…this all probably means Chip thinks he has game, and I’m sue getting an offseason of training is going to make a world of a difference for Brad
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Casey, is someone I keep hearing about from everyone. Everyone seems to mention Casey, from Howie, Chip, FOles. Shady, to defensive players like Earl ,Wolff who revealed that James is part of the small group that are the first players to arrive at Novacare every morning, Howie, and Chip both 111 how good he looks this year…he isn’t the type to sign a contract and get lazy, so why does he look good this year and not last year? Have a feeling he. Warriored his way thru a bad ankle that lingered all year and probably hundred him…
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We know that we will have a deep and deadly offense. With players like Sproles, Shady and Ertz who are nightmares for defenses to match up with. As great as we are projecting our offense to be, it would be awesome if guys who we aren’t counting on, like Casey, Brad Smith and Rejus Bwnn emerge as weapons
Matthews will:
– work hard
– maximize every bit of his already strong physical talents
– never ever be a self-serving “unnamed source” being the only guy ripping a recently departed teammate.
Or be a Diva….
Practice hard, you play hard. Practicing hard is contagious. He’ll rise on the depth chart as the summer goes on. I expect him to be hot out of the gate. Hit a late season slow down. It’s a long season for the rookies.
He’s going to be a major leader on this team sooner than later.
Loving our locker room,, the character and leadership In our locker room is stronger than it has been in a long time..
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Been drafting intelligent, graduates, who are really Committed to excellence..
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And we been signing other teams captains..Jenkins team captain, Maragos ST captain,,,
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Funny that we were able to land a high character man like Nolan Carrol…considering the mess that was the Miami dolphins locker room, the last player that franchise should have lost in free agency was Nolan lol if they were committed to cleaning up that sess pool of a locker room, they should have been adding Nolan Carrol type of human beings instead of losing them.. SMH.. Miami still doesn’t seem to “get it”
Jordan will be a stud… Effort alone won’t bring you a quality NFL career…but he is a second round talent, with all the ability/attributes we could ever hope from a WR. Talent + iNtelligence x Work ethic = A BALLER!!!!
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If I had to bet money on a player being picked after round 1 NOT becoming a Bust, I would take Jordan… Too much ability, too much desire, too much work ethic for him to not grow into a quality player…
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I love that we also have Huff. Those two are pushing each other, testing each other every night, competing against each other. Nice having two driven rookie WR talents pushing each other… It’s even better when one of the two is so familiar with the offense…
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Thinking both Jodan and Huff will turn into brilliant picks…wonder how Desean would have acted towards us drafting two WRs? Word is, he never got over us drafting ‘Maclin..how would he have responded to drafting two WRs early, one of them being a former duck?
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So far, Chip has drafted 3 pass catchers: Ertz, Mathews and Huff.. Going to be interesting to see what this team looks like after Chip has two more drafts to add his guys
Don`t forget Sproles, used a 5th round pick for him.
I just love the way chip is making these rookies earn their spot. No more sense of entitlement from this team. You work hard and you perform you make the team. Hopefully this leads us to superbowls.
That work ethic must have come from his second cousin Jerry Rice and from being overlook coming out of HS. Good to hear he’s putting his best foot forward, can’t wait to see how he does when the pads go on.
He has that borderline insane drive/work ethic seen in the greatest players in the history of every sport… We aren’t talking about the type of work ethic that can make him successfull, we talking about the type of work ethic usually seen in ELITE players
Or in Jason Avant.
Jason Avant needed work ethic to overcome his lack of talent….Jordan isn’t an Allen Iverson or Mike Vick type.. Someone so talented that it cripples their development because he can get away with not working hard and still produce…Jordan isn’t the SPECIAL talent that guys like Iverson and Vick were, but in terms of talent he is closer to elite talent, than he is to Avant lack of talent…
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It’s one thing to get someone like Avant who has to make up for his limitations by out working and out thinking his competitors…but to get a 1st/2nd round talent with this type of work ethic is an absolute score. Personally, I can’t recall ever seeing a rookie come in and make this type of impression.. To have one of your high draft picks come in day one, and throw down the gauntlet and proclaim that he is here to outwork everyone, is HUGE! That can be so valuable to a team.
I know, you were just talking like the work ethic is what’s going to make the player elite. Doesn’t work that way. I do appreciate what Matthews is bringing everyday though.
I don’t think that’s what he’s saying. Work ethic doesn’t = elite. I think he’s saying the kid has his head on straight and it’s a great start to his young career. Great players work on being great all the time. Very few, if any, are gifted enough to walk on the field and be great. You have to have great work ethic. That’s what this kid has. As of right now, that’s good enough.
Noooo. Work ethic is a key ingredient found In elite players….but not every guy with elite work ethic will be great. Lessor talents like Avant needed an elite work ethic to overcome talent limitations…..but I believe when you draft a kid in the top 50, he typically,isn’t going to lack talent. Those high draft picks typically have a skill set comperable to that of great players… Top 50 draft picks typically don’t bust because they are too slow, or they can’t jump high enough, they can’t catch we’ll enough…. Players drafted in the top 50 tend to have a ceiling comperable to that of great players…
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Work ethic, coaching, injury/health, situation you are placed in, intelligence… These factors will then dictate how much of his potential a draft pick will realize. Jordan Mathews has a ceiling(potential) of a high quality WR…. But realizing every bit of his potential isn’t a given…..that’s why fans are gaga over his work ethic
A little overboard
Doesn’t mean he is destined to be an elite player… But from what has been reveled, it absolutely sounds like that type of work ethic…
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Personally, never in my life have I seen a rookie come in and sound anything like this player, the level of drive he is openly displaying is new to me when talking about rookies. Really can’t recall ever hearing a rookie sound like this AND believe he means every word….
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Now that doesn’t mean we should start working on his hall of fame bust…but very exciting to see in a young man….
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Just be happy that he has this type of drive and is so Commited to excellence…think his passion for the game is evident and that’s awesome to see. Sounds like the money isn’t everything to this kid. Sounds like he Genuinly wants to be great and has no problem working relentlessly for it……. And you would have to be a robot to Not find that exciting
I hear ya…Honestly, I’d rather have a sold starting WR just short of elite, than a me first WR with all the talent in the world. I hope he turns into a faster Hines Ward type player. My reservation is that we don’t set the bar too high for him year one. I will be ecstatic if he has 500 yards receiving this year.
I think coaches will be responsible with how they bring him along as a rookie… Expect them to handle him similar to how we eased in Ertz. Especially if Maclin,Coop,Rejus and Brad smith are all healthy at the beginning of the year…
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People also need to remember that this isn’t the traditional offense where a slot WR is the guy who lines up in the slot every play…not only will Jordan have to compete and share snaps with other slot WRs like Brad Smith and Josh Huff, but in this offense there will be plenty of times when outside WRs Maclin and Coop Oline up in the slot….
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It’s also important to remember that it doesn’t matter how great of a slot WR we have, there will always be times where we line up Ertz and Sproles as the slot WR
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Them there will also be times we don’t even use a slot because we are in Multi TE sets…
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Plenty of other options to where we won’t have to put too much on his plate..
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There will be some weeks where Jordan will probably look like one of our best players, and other weeks where he is invisible this year.. Thinking that it’s going to be that way for many of our pass catchers, Chip has a deep arsenal of weapons.. His 3rd TE and 5th WRs aren’t some tomato can we never want to play. Other than Shady, guys roles will change drastically from one week to the next because we are so deep with weapons. Chip will look at our opponents weakness and go with the weapon that has the best chance to exploit the weakness…
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Think the Bar for Jordan Mathews rookie year should be set around Ertz rookie year production,,
Personally, I think Mathews will be the better WR over time, but Huff will have the better rookie year. I can see Huff and Sproles spelling each other in the backfield a lot this year. Taking over for what DeSean did last year when he lined up behind Foles. I really like Huff a polished enough WR that can also act as a RB.
Midget trash WIll Hill made it thru waivers…
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I’m not familiar with his game, but does it really match up with his #2 safety ranking? Safeties are scarce around the league.. Wonder who will be the team that adds this young knucklehead
IF he learned his lesson … and IF he finds the right mentor….he could be a good add. I don’t know if Chip takes projects like him though…
I don’t know his game at all… But from what I read, Chip won’t be adding him to our locker any time soon.
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Tho, secondary has been a major problem all around the NFC East. For a rival to get a good safety, and lose him for being dumb, is always exciting…. Even tho, SOMEONE will give him another chance, and historically when you start to make a list of who might give a second chance to an IDIOT who is a talent on paper, Jerruh and Snyder are usually at the top of the list…
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Bears could really use a safety. KC could use one. Skins, Cowboys… don’t think the Niners are in any position to add knucklheads. Their roster is top 5 in the NFL in terms of amount of recent arrests.. Interesting to see where this kid ends up
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Last week I wrote about how the Browns are still Commited to Josh Gordon but the jags want nothing to do with Blacmon…I stand corrected, yesterday jags made it clear they won’t cut him…
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They drafted Lee and Allen Robinson, and if they don’t plan on giving up on Blacmon, that tells me that they won’t franchise, or Re-sign Cecjl Shorts… How old is that kid? He would be a really nice weapon in a Chip offense. Led that slop of a team in receptions these past two seasons…non matter what type of slop they put around him, the kid continues to make gamebreaking plays…no idea what his age is, and I think our sill players will have such a big year that we won’t be paying any free agent WRs…. But he would have been a cool weapon in this offense,,
I like pot just as much as the next guy, but I like moeny more. Josh Gordon, Blackmon, Washington giving up tens of millions of dollars just to smoke?
Yeah it’s insanity. I’m not against pot and I think the rules are ridiculous but I would chose being able to play football and get paid for I over ANYTHING, so I don’t understand how someone can let a joint or anything screw with their career or bank account.
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What’s even worse is that these dopes keep getting caught. I’m sure many more NFL players are smoking pot all the time, yet only a handful of these idiots are getting busted for it..,.
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The rule is ridiculous and it needs to be changed. Guys can’t be missing entire seasons over a little pot..but I don’t care how ridiculous of a rule it is. It’s every players duty to make sure they can play and that they aren’t hurting their teams by being suspended.. This is why I really enjoy our coach caring so much about character and intelligence, Injuries are such a major part of football. It’s bad enough that every year teams have to find a way to overcome injuries to their key players, ontop of overcoming injuries, coaches and players shouldn’t have to deal with team mates selfishly getting suspended
Will Hill was playing as a 2nd tier safety last year (after Byrd, Ward and Thomas), he is one of the most talented safeties in the NFL, but he cant stop smoking.
Jordan’s drive and work ethic are Valuable enough….but I think Jordan has been placed in a dream scenario where we can really develop him into a serious NFL weapon.
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It’s awesome that he has that drive and self motivation, but it’s even better that he has to claw scratch and win a tough battle if he wants to get snaps in this offense. Brad Smith is ahead of him on the slot depth chart and word is that Brads looking really good. I suspect that being in year two is going to look like night and day for many of our players compared to last year…Brad was added mid season. He was behind the 8 ball compared to everyone else’s situation…Even if odds were stacked against him joining the team when the season was already underway, Chip liked his skill set enough to trust him with some improtant plays, like playing him at QB in the redzone… Chip must really like something about Brads skill set, and I’m sure year two is going to provide Brad a much healthier situation for him to show what he can do,,,word us that right now,both Brad and Rejus are making the most out of being healthy and look really good in OTAs… Reports about Brad and FOles building a nice chemistry are already floating around….not only does Brad looking good providesmus with another weapon we probably aren’t accounting for when we make our offensive progressions, but it also pushes the already driven Jordan Mathews.. Jordan is going to have to really put on a show if he is going to replace someone who is looking good…. Jordan also has huff to compete with. Huff has a nice advantage being so familiar with our pffense. Jordan is going to have to really work if he doesn’t want to be outshined by huff
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This situation is really going to push our plays to reach new heights.. So much to be excited about these days
My hope is that is displaces Cooper by the end of the season. I like Cooper but I don’t think he is an explosive type player. My expectations are that he will be an 8/8 (800yds/ 8tds) player for his career cap. I think Maclin might be able to hit the 12/12 this year. The 12 TDs should be attainable. He might only the 1075-1150 range in yards based on the talent they have at receiving. Add in Shady and you have your top 3 pass catchers for the season.
The problem for Mathews is opportunity. He will be competing with Huff/Smith for reps in the slot. Plus when they go 12 personnel or even 22 he will have a harder time getting on the field. He will have to share more with 4 other pass catchers. It just comes down to how many times will he get on the field and be the 1st or 2nd read.
I’m not an avid college football fan, but I’m wondering exactly why Matthews is considered a 2 and below the elite crop of WR draftees. Either this site or another linked to a good article breaking down Matthews’ production and physical measurables vs. Sammy Watkins, including a disaggregation of the stats vs. common opponents. (http://rotoviz.com/index.php/2014/04/this-week-in-blasphemy-comparing-sammy-watkins-and-jordan-matthews-versus-common-opponents/).
The bottom line was that the WRs were just about the same, with a slight edge to Matthews. Throw in that Matthews was really the only dude at Vandy and his clear work ethic, and it looks on paper like we actually have a steal. Obviously, there’s never a sure thing, but Matthews looks from this angle like as good of a bet as any WR in the draft.
Can anyone shed light on what I’m missing? Is there something glaring on tape that sets Matthews a peg lower than the “elite” group of WR draftees?
Agility, maybe? I mean, the guy has size, he can run, he has the hands, he has the attitude. But draft nicks wrote that he isn’t very agile, a bit like Cooper. I even read a comparison to Cooper.
That “guest” would be me. Disqus fail from my side. So everybody knows who exactly has to be screwed for this comment. 😉
i didn’t like him, most of his catches were off screens, higher drop percentage than most. but he can catch in traffic great work ethic, and we use a lot of screens so i’m optomistic.
There was a really good crop of wr this year. Matthews might have been the 2nd or third wr picked in 2013. The all time leader in sec history is not going to be overlooked, teams thought Watkins, Evans, cooks, ODB had better skills/athleticism. All of the wr picked in first and second round of 2014 are gonna be real good.
Very true…last year, Cordarell Patterson was probably the only WR I’d draft ahead of Jordan. Think I’d take Jordan over Justin Hunter and Deandre Hunter..
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This draft class is going to be fascinating… Redrafting at the end of the season should be interesting( to see who the most ready instant impact players were)..,but redrafting this class 3 years from now will be really interesting..
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We worked out all the WRs that went in the first two rounds,, interesting that we valued Jordan and Lee above the rest…going to be interesting to see how all these WR stack up against each other…there are some WR in some really good situations…like Cody Latimer playing with Peyton Manning.. Or Kelvin Benjamin who is the only WR on his team that will have a bunch of balls thrown his way, how will Jordan stack up to Moncrief who will be catching balls from Luck? Martevis Bryant and big Benn?
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Harder to measure Jordan Mathews against Allen Robinson or Marcus Lee… They get more playing time but in a worse offense..
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But we traded up to go get Mathews. I want that to mean something. We extensively worked our Latimer. I want our coaches to be right and end up with Jordan who is a much better WR than Cody… Like Jordan, Cody gets good QB play(like putting FOles on Peyton’s level lol).. They both play in an explosive offense that they won’t be the #1 option….
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Eagles traded up to 42 for Mathews…I want that to mean something… It’s not ok to see Denver hind up with a similar player falling into their lap.. We had our choice, and went with Jordan….we need that to pan out!!!!
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This can’t be one of those situations where we spend the next 10 years talking about Luck getting Moncrief or Passing on Latimer!
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Jordan needs to develop a tier above those guys!
I would have them listed like this.
Potential
Patterson
Hunter
Matthews
Hopkins
Ready to start
Hopkins
Matthews
Patterson
Hunter
Here’s what NFL.com has:
Strengths:
Good length. Big zone target. Good form as a route runner. Sinks his hips and pops out of breaks. Concentrates, tracks and adjusts. Soft hands and sticky fingers. Has leaping ability to compete in the air. Opens up his stride in the clear and shows nice long speed. Good field awareness. Gives effort as a blocker. Competes and plays with intensity. Tough and intelligent. Lined up outside and inside and has punt-return experience. Team captain and four-year starter with record-setting production.
Weaknesses:
Could stand to bulk up his frame. Adequate line release. Fairly linear. Not a quick-twitch athlete. Does not show elite explosion to separate vertically. Lets some throws into his body and is not immune to concentration drops. Limited creativity and elusiveness after the catch. Can be moody and has some diva in him.
Draft Projection Rounds 2-3
Bottom Line Matthews is a tall, narrow-framed, West Coast possession receiver with soft hands, a professional approach and the versatility to line up inside or outside and become a solid No. 2 or No. 3. High-floor prospect.
Calling that article good is a major stretch. You can skew any numbers that you’d like but Watkins is superior to Matthews every way possible. You can say that I discount Matthew’s production at Vandy but who really cares about what he did in college? Would you brag about what Matthews did in 2011 to a Cowgirls fan?
Of all the WRs taken in the first 2 rounds this year, Matthews IMO had the third lowest ceiling next to Landry and Richardson. Heck, there’s tons of things that Matthews is near the bottom of the list (that’s not work ethic) when compared to the WRs taken in round 1-2. Matthews is well-rounded as a WR but he’s just average at everything. He is a tad inconsistent in aspects such as hands, playing to his size, focus, blocking and separation.
http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=bloomoverratedmatthews
Lets compare him to Lee and Watkins (two of the great YAC guys just like Matthews was in college).
Both Lee and Watkins can create their own YAC by either breaking tackles (Watkins) or juke them (Lee). Also both Lee and Watkins has better separation skills than Matthews when running routes. For some reason, Matthews has problem separating from a CB on a route, but he has great burst once he has the ball in his hands. The problem is, he needs perfect blocking for him to gain yards (same compare McCoy to most other RBs, McCoy can create his own yards where many other will need good blocking)
This seems fair to me. The main statistical difference is in YAC.
From the clips I have seen, Matthews is very good at catching the ball in traffic. Like Chip said, some receivers are open through agility, some through size and body control. If this translates to the NFL, then I’m fine with less separation. As long as he still maintains some explosiveness at the same time…
My problem is that having problem separating against college CBs is bad consider 99% of them wont play a single down in the NFL (just about every CB in the NFL is fast, not so in college).
So while Matthews is big and strong, he is not a guy who consistent made catches in traffic (he had a lot of drops over the middle) like Avant did.
Thank you for pointing out that hard work is not enough. Some think you can get by with talent, some thing you can get by with working hard. in truth, you need to have some mix of both, plus a good match of scheme, surrounding talent, and luck.
Emitt Smith would have been a good back no matter what, but the combination of talent, work, perfect fit, and luck (health, good passing attack around him, etc) allowed him to become the best ever in terms of production over a career.
Chip may or may not succeed, hut he seems to place a good amount of value into things like fit, work ethic, and other things not directly related to talent. He might truly be building a team greater than the sum of its parts.
I can’t stand reading about how players are great (e.g., Brady) because they work harder than everyone else.
Getting a wr in the second takes the spotlight off of Smith who has a hard assignment to learn in one off-season. Smith will be a beast in Preseason but I think it might take half the season for him to put it all together and see some real playing time.
Re: Where’s Foles After Practice
T-law, quoting from McLane’s piece on Matthews, included this piece of information:
“Matthews, who missed last Thursday to attend a rookie symposium in Los Angeles, spent about an extra 15 minutes working with quarterback Mark Sanchez after practice.”
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Why exactly is Matthews working after practice with Sanchez?
Why aren’t Foles and Matthews working together?
Yeah Matthews shouldn’t be building a rapport w/ a guy that he’s never going to a catch a pass from. I awlays go back to RW who as a sophmore QB invited everyone out to LA on his own dime to catch passes, run routes and work. Looking for that from Foles.
Legitimate question, but maybe the answer has less to do with Matthews getting work, and more about Sanchez? In other words, perhaps Sanchez, given how he’s apparently not looked good, asked the receivers whether anyone would stay after with him to work on things?
Definitely an interesting point, though.
good point, I’ll also add that Matthews is working with the 2’s with Sanchez. Matthews wants to look good and break into the reps with the 1’s. Him looking good will largely depend on his rapport with Sanchez. If Sanchez is always looking for his blanky, and Matthews is it, he will get a lot of opportunities.
A87:
Respectfully, I think that would be short-sighted on the part of both Matthews and the Eagles.
In the past decade-and-a-half, when new receivers joined the Colts and Broncos with Manning at QB, and the Pats with Brady, both QBs worked with the nebbies — whether they were slotted to run with the 1st team, 2nd team, or 3rd team. ‘Cause you never know what can happen.
(The old “anything can happen and usually does” line.)
Developing a good rapport with Sanchez now won’t help in 4 months from now when Matthews has his chance to grab a starting job.
I see your point, though, and you may be dead on.
Well you read about Sanchez struggling, and that’s basically a big problem for Matthews and his ambitions. I think this is common for members of a unit to do extra work together voluntarily (not necessarily an Eagles thing) for mutual benefit. But you’re right, it isn’t optimal. Optimally if we were to expect Matthews to be a starter, we’d start him there to get as many reps as possible to get the rookie acclimated to the system and his QB. Basically make it his job to lose.
Foles was getting some kittens out of a tree en route to curing cancer after practice.
These kinds of distractions are why he will fail as an NFL QB. Unacceptable!
I think its probably due to both guys needing work or wanting to get extra work after practice. It doesn’t make sense for Matthews to get Foles to throw to him for extra work if Sanchez is already out there and needing someone to throw too. Its probably got more to do with practicality than anything else.
Yup..probably two guys who are behind, wanting to play catch up
FOles lovers:
..,
6:05pm tonight on 97.5 the fanatic, Jaws will have the rainmaker/Demi-God Nick FOles live on his radio show
GE:
having trouble finding the link on PE.com to the NFL Network piece on Foles.
help?
the one from the top 100 list?
http://www.nfl.com/videos/philadelphia-eagles/0ap2000000353519/Jeremy-Maclin-Mark-Herzlich-Gerald-McCoy-Rod-Streater
Exactly . . .
thanks.
Sorry I didn’t see your question early… Did you see the video yet?
T-minus-77 minutes.
This weeks informative videos:
..
1) the 3 videos from top 100 player countdown
A) FOles
b) Jason Peters
C) Mathis
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2) Inside studio with Spadaro. His segments are really hit or miss. You will either find them informative or you will be pissed off at the questions he asked and how you learned nothing. The recent ones worth watching that were real informative are:
A)’Earl Wolff
B) Brandon Boykin
..
P.S….. Check out the arms on both young defensive backs lol
….
3) Eagles podcast (with McPherson,Wulff) these are longer 30-45 min. But PE posts both the video and audio versions. Special guests were
A) Barwin.. Pretty informative.
B) Logan. Talks about his love for playing nose tackle
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4) Micheal Barkaan goes 1 on 1 with Cary Williams. Very informative segment. This video can be found in the video section of CSNPhilly/eagles
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The other video Are all recent additions to PE video section
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There’s a lot of other stuff/ interview… But these are the ones I found most informative
Where’s Ron Jaworski stand on the question of Foles as the future of the Eagles at QB?
LOL who can keep up? Baldi and Jaws flip flop on everything so many times..who knows which side he went with lately lol
.,
Never forget baldi on FOles:
1) After the preseason of his rookie year when he was connecting on long balls to Desean, Baldi was ranting and raving how FOles could play, how he definitely had what it takes to be a player in this league.
..
2)’Vick gets hurt, FOles has a rough first start as a rookie… baldi destroyed him. Saying he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. proclaiming he was wrong. And Nick would never be able to play QB at this level…
,,,
3) Then the Tampa comeback win and the ROLLERCOASTER kept going…
…
Jaws is even worse lol.. Dude flip flipped like 15 times on Manziel And he hasn’t even played yet. His “expert” opinion flip flops due to a individual workout lol
…
But by now, I’m sure Jaws LOVES FOles.
Jaws said Djax wouldn’t play again bc of gang affiliations. These guys are more weathermen than analysts.
How does,elliot SHar Parker still have a job. Elliot SHar Parker is literally one of the biggest hacks who covers Phily sports. He is terrible.. How can he write that joke of a gang ties story and still have a Job? That story speculated over incidents that happened In 2010 that the team knew about. Didn’t provide a single fact, and nothing about his “story” should have been considered recent “news”…
.
Because it generated 50% of NJ.com’s hits for this year? tragically bad reporting is good business, just look at skip baylis lol!
However i think Elliot is not that bad a report and puts an interesting spin when he breaks things down. I don’t trust any beat reporter with everything they say – but they have interesting nuggets at times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znLG90V3H9E
Jaws has watched 400 hours of film today alone, and now FIRMLY believes that Nick Foles is undoubtedly the greatest quarterback of all time (or until ESPN asks him to do a segment on another quarterback or Foles has a bad game).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OTP_mGIQnM
Frank caliendo doing jaws and Gruden is just amazing
D3FB:
I walked into that one, didn’t I?
Won’t make that mistake again.
Sooo funny. Guy is amazing.
I don’t know if this has been posted elsewhere, but definitely an article that makes you love the pick even more:
http://rotoviz.com/index.php/2014/04/this-week-in-blasphemy-comparing-sammy-watkins-and-jordan-matthews-versus-common-opponents/
Obviously numbers don’t tell the whole story, but certainly an interesting article regardless.
Oops, I see it was posted below.
Hahahah Giants CB, 2012 3rd round pick Jayron Hosley suspended for first 4 games.. Lol lost safety Will Hill and now a 3rd round corner hahahahahab
Any chance of getting Foles for under 20 mill/year just got destroyed. Kaepernick seems just have gotten a 20+ mill per year deal and Foles is already a better QB than him
6yrs 110mil kAp got…. What a joke, dude can’t even throw…
Word is it will be “one of the most heavily guaranteed contracts in NFL history”.
..
Cam newton
Andy Dalton
Wilson
FOles
..
Will a team ever get the balls to not give in, and let the QB go into his contract year as a lame duck?
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its 126 mill with 60 guaranteed (record)
Geez….
..
Curious to see what’s going to happen with KC and Alex Smith
Be honest, KC should jsut let him play out and let him leave
I would prob agree with you,,,word is he wanted more than 15m, going to be interesting. While I would agree with you, i don’t think Andy would…Andy is short sited, will always be close to the top, but won’t get over the hump so Alex is right in his wheel house…but Andy doesn’t have that power any more…when Andy did an interview with NFL network like a week ago he was asked about the Alex contract and Andy talked about that no longer being his job (lucky KC fans)…
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Andy would keep Alex at all costs and give in and pay him. No idea what Dorsey will do. Will he give Andy what he wants or ask Andy if he is nuts? Lol
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15mil is ALOT for Alex smith, and he wants more than that. with that supporting cast, I feel like you can find QBs that can give you what Alex gave you..
,,,
If they are considering extending him for over 15M, I would rather trade for Mallet, see what he could do for half a season and pay him…I’d even take a look at Glennon before I give Alex 17mil
The Ravens did. It backfired on them.
Question is: how much worse could it get for the 49ers? What kind of money would you pay Kaep if he wins the SB in contrast to what you pay him now?
Of course there’s always the hold out problem, but if that won’t happen, I, personally, would play the rookie contract out. It’s one more year where you have a great window open to you.
Same for us next offseason. If Foles wants 20m and won’t hold out (we don’t know of course, so that’s a big if), how much worse can it get? Only thing that speaks pro early extension from a team perspective imho is the inflation of NFL salaries and the cap.
Especially with the young QBs about whom you don’t have as much informations due to small sample size as you would like to have.
Look at the Bengals, for example. How in the world can you think about extending Dalton this offseason? You don’t know what you have in him. Why would you pay at least 12-14 million for a guy you won’t know if he’s capable of winning a playoff game for you?
Also for the Niners, is a guy who is a marginal passer really worth paying a premium for? Its seems reasonable that they could have drafted a guy this year or last to develop who would offer the same as passer or even more for much less money.
I hoped that the 49ers would be the team to play the tough hand with their QB. If they could prove that great coaching staffs + great O-Line + great running game + great Defense can life with a Rookie QB, maybe the nonsense would stop.
Problem, of course, is the huge demand and not enough supply for franchise QBs. I don’t like the dominance QBs have, one of the few things I don’t like in the NFL. I found the contracts for Stafford, Romo, Ryan etc. absolutely ridiculous. If you ask me, give Peyton, Brady, Rodgers and Brees 40 millions, they are worth it, but pay those above-average guys 12 millions, because they are never ever worth 18-20.
Of course, a GM is always happy if he hasn’t a QB problem. So I get why they pay those nonsense money to guys who never proved to be consistently great. I just don’t like it.
And even though I like Foles, I don’t like the idea of giving him 20 million a year after basically 2 years starting in this league (with 1 1/2 under this regime) either. It will happen, I understand why Roseman will do it, I just doesn’t like it.
http://nflphilosophy.com/qb-purgatory/
This article is very good imo. I think too many teams are honestly happy to be in “QB purgatory” aka having Andy Dalton
Good article, thanks.
I think the Niners probably payed too high a figure. But it absolutely devastated the Ravens to lose that gamble. The sides walked away over a $1 million dollar difference in year 6 of the orignal deal and it cost the Ravens $35 million over the life of the new contract.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/26/joe-linta-ravens-were-dumb-not-to-sign-flacco-last-year/
I didn’t intend to say it worked out for the Ravens. Of course it didn’t. But they were in another situation when they thought about extending. Flacco was more in the Dalton range than the Kaep range before he won the superbowl. Talent, but flaws. With the Superbowl win, he was payed like an elite QB, because he played in the playoffs like an elite QB.
I would say though: if you’re not sure about your QB, rather risk to pay him more after the year. Otherwise it could turn out the be a Jets/Sanchez extension, which crippled that franchise.
The Eagles will hopefully be able to get a deal done before Seattle and Wilson do or else Foles’ price may be even higher. But at least the $20+ million per year won’t crush the Eagles because they have the cap space and the cap is expected to continue rising.
Alex Smith took that same team to the conference finals. I joke about kAp but he looks like a promising young QB, but paying THAT is insanity, especially for a run based offense..
,,,
Now we will really find out about that organization. We saw them operate like an elite franchise when they were allocating circus peanuts to the QB position. Let’s see how they operate with that albatross of a contract…
…
Some interesting decisions coming up… Can’t wait to see the contract Snyder gives RG3
Re: Is $126 Million Really $126 Million?
Too soon to tell what Kaepernick’s deal is and the impact his contract may have on the Eagles’ likely negotiations with Foles.
PFT.com reports that Kaep bagged $60 million guaranteed on a contract worth *up to* $126 million.
A nice chunk of the guaranteed money will come in the form of a signing bonus. How much? Let’s say it’s $20 million, which’ll be spread over 6 years for Cap purposes.
As for the remaining “guaranteed” money — $60 million less the signing bonus — the 49ers had to build in some protections. Maybe the remainder comes in the form of roster bonuses, spread over the next 4-6 years, which vest on the first day of the league year. Maybe there’s a balloon bonus.
As for salary, I’d guess that that Kaep’s number starts low — the way Banner, and most good GMs structure mega-deals — and goes up every season.
Seems like there’ll be escalators in the contracts that trigger bigger salary bumps. And in 3 years, give or take, you’d think the 49ers may have an out. Or, conversely, a trigger point to renegotiate if Kaep’s continued to progress and is carrying San Francisco.
At this point, Kaep doesn’t have enough starts to get $126 million contract that’s actually going to pay out $126 million. Seems hard to believe. Could happen. I have no idea.
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As for the Russell Wilson-factor, he’s QB’d his team to a SB. Did he carry Seattle on his back? Who knows what the Seahawks’ management thinks. Like Foles, Wilson needs to show he can carry that team without Lynch.
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So how’s Kaep’s deal impact future negotiations with Foles — assuming he’s
not injured in 2014 and Kelly views his season as substantial a step forward,
it’s impossible to say without seeing the fine print in Kaep’s deal.
One
factor in the Eagles’ favor is Kaepernick’s been to 3 NFC title games
and a SB. At most Foles will have a SB to take to the table.
There’re any number of other challenges, too, for Foles’s agent that he’ll have to answer when facing off with Smolenski and Roseman.
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Bottom line, I’m skeptical that Kaepernick’s deal will actually pay him the full face value. Too young. Too few starts. Too inconsistent.
And I don’t think $20 MM per year is the number the Eagles will be kicking around with Foles after January 2015 — even if he plays lights out again.
Just too hard to justify jumping Foles to the top of the class — where it won’t take long to call roll — before his 4th season.
Anyway . . . just some passing thoughts on the whole thing.