Jordan Matthews News & Rumors

Eagles Tried To Trade For LeSean McCoy

February 2nd, 2018 at 10:32am CST by Zachary Links

Under Chip Kelly‘s watch, the Eagles shipped star LeSean McCoy to the Bills. After Kelly was canned, top exec Howie Roseman tried to bring him back to the nest. Roseman tried to reacquire McCoy in a trade with Buffalo after Kelly was fired “through back-channel intermediaries,” according to sources who spoke with Manish Mehta of the Daily News.

The Eagles pitched one package including wide receiver Jordan Matthews, according to Mehta. Of course, Matthews later wound up in Buffalo in a different deal last summer that brought cornerback Ronald Darby to the Eagles.

A McCoy return would have delighted the Philadelphia faithful, but things worked out just fine for the Eagles in the long run. During the season, Roseman swung a surprising pre-deadline deal for Dolphins runner Jay Ajayi, who has provided the Eagles with some much-needed athleticism out of the backfield. On Sunday, the Eagles will have the opportunity to win their first ever Super Bowl, thanks in part to his presence.

McCoy didn’t have the best season in 2014, but he was still productive for Philadelphia at the time of the trade with 1,319 rushing yards and a 4.2 YPC average in that season. In 2013, McCoy was rated as the very best tailback in football according to Pro Football Focus. In his three seasons with Buffalo, McCoy has averaged 4.6 yards per carry and has averaged 1,200+ yards per 16 games. Kelly anticipated that McCoy would fall off by now, but he remains one of the league’s most lethal running backs.

Bills Place Matthews, Lawson On IR

December 5th, 2017 at 3:29pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bills are shutting down two of their starters for the rest of their seasons. Wide receiver Jordan Matthews and defensive end Shaq Lawson have been placed on injured reserve. To fill their spots, the Bills have promoted defensive end Cap Capi and wide receiver Brandon Reilly to the active roster.

Matthews was the Eagles’ leading receiver in 2016, but Philly spent much of the offseason looking to unload him. In August, they found a taker in the Bills, who shipped Sammy Watkins to the Rams on the same day. Buffalo gave up cornerback Ronald Darby to receive Matthews and a 2018 third-round pick.

Unfortunately, injuries have held Matthews back all year long. Matthews recovered from a broken thumb and fractured sternum, but he has been dealing with a knee issue in recent weeks.

In ten games, the wide receiver had just 25 catches for 282 yards and one touchdown. That pales in comparison to the 73 catches for 804 yards and three touchdowns he had in 2016 and the career-high numbers (85 grabs, 997 yards, eight touchdowns) he put up in the previous year. Matthews is scheduled for free agency in March and he was hoping for a much better platform when he arrived in Buffalo.

Lawson, meanwhile, sprained his ankle last Sunday and had to be carted off of the field. The No. 19 overall pick in the 2016 draft has appeared in just 21 games in his first two NFL seasons.

Bills WR Jordan Matthews To Miss Time

October 2nd, 2017 at 10:21am CST by Dallas Robinson

Bills wide receiver Jordan Matthews is expected to undergo thumb surgery and will miss at least one month of action, according to Sal Capaccio of WGR 550 (Twitter link).

Matthews, whom Buffalo acquired (along with a third-round pick) in an August trade in exchange for cornerback Ronald Darby, had been serving as the Bills’ de facto No. 1 wideout, although he is actually third in receptions behind running back LeSean McCoy and tight end Charles Clay. On 13 targets, the 25-year-old Matthews has managed 10 catches for 162 yards and one touchdown for the surprisingly 3-1 Bills. Playing in his contract season, Matthews is scheduled to become a free agent next spring.

Given that the Bills were already fielding one of the NFL’s worst receiving corps before the Matthews injury, the club will likely lean on the run game even more heavily than it had in Weeks 1-4. Buffalo has thrown the ball at a lower rate than any other team in the league thus far (just 45.31% of plays), and it wouldn’t be surprising to see that percentage dip even further.

Zay Jones, Andre Holmes, and Kaelin Clay will likely see more targets with Matthews sidelined, while the Bills could also promote either Malachi Dupre or Brandon Reilly from their practice squad. A free agent addition probably doesn’t make sense given that Matthews will return later this year, but Anquan Boldin is still available after retiring from the Bills just before the season began. The veteran pass-catcher has ruled out a late-season return, however.

Matthews wasn’t the only Buffalo player to go down on Sunday, as linebacker Ramon Humber suffered a broken thumb and will miss time, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Humber, who has never been a full-time starter during his nine-plus-year NFL career, had played on nearly 95% of the Bills’ defensive snaps to this point and graded as the league’s No. 33 linebacker, per Pro Football Focus. Matt Milano is likely to step into the starting lineup, while Deon Lacey and Tanner Vallejo could also see increased usage.

Extra Points: Dolphins, Chargers, Perryman

August 15th, 2017 at 4:03pm CST by Zachary Links

Dolphins 2015 second-round pick Jordan Phillips may not be in the team’s long-term plans, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. At one point this offseason, Phillips was being talked up as a key part of the team’s defensive line. Now, he’s practicing as the No. 3 defensive tackle behind fifth-round rookie Davon Godchaux.

There’s still time for Phillips to play with more consistency and passion and earn a starting job alongside Ndamukong Suh, but not everyone in Miami expects that to happen. If he continues trending downward, Jackson hears he won’t be in Miami for the long haul.

Here’s more from around the NFL:

Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman will be out 8-10 weeks after getting surgery to repair his torn ankle ligament, sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). That timeline would put Perryman on track for a mid-season return. Perryman suffered the injury in Sunday night’s preseason game.
Bills wide receiver Jordan Matthews has what the team is calling “a chip fracture in his sternum” and is week to week, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. For now, it sounds like the newly-acquired receiver is not in danger of missing games, but it’s a situation to keep an eye on.
The Cowboys are working out wide receiver Corey Washington for the second time in training camp, Todd Archer of ESPN.com tweets. It might not be long before he is signed.

Extra Points: Matthews, Megatron, Wheaton

August 13th, 2017 at 8:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although the Eagles dealt Jordan Matthews rather than make him part of their large recent group of extension signees, Howie Roseman said the trade wouldn’t preclude the team from re-signing Matthews as a free agent, Eliot Shorr-Parks tweets. Whether Matthews would consider a return to Philadelphia after this is another story. The Bills wideout is one of many notable receivers entering contract years. He joins fellow Friday traded pass-catcher Sammy Watkins, along with DeAndre Hopkins and fellow 2014 draftees Jarvis Landry, Davante Adams, Allen Robinson, Donte Moncrief as a prospective UFA.

The Bills have a revamped wide receiver corps, having traded Watkins and observed Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin leave in free agency, so it would stand to reason they’d want to keep Matthews past 2017. But the acquisitions of Matthews and E.J. Gaines may have been secondary to the second- and third-round draft choices received, so Buffalo’s strategy with the newly acquired players will be interesting.

Here’s the latest from around the league as preseason’s first week wraps up.

Teams have reportedly attempted to lure Calvin Johnson out of retirement, but the Lions still have the rights to Megatron if he were to return. But the timing of a Johnson comeback could affect where he’d end up. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes Johnson could put the Lions in a tough spot by notifying the NFL he intends to come back now. Operating under the premise Megatron was retired, the Lions have barely $7MM in cap space. Florio posits a Johnson comeback could get him to free agency — and teams he may believe have a better shot at contention — since his $16MM salary would hit the Lions’ payroll and force the team to act quickly to get in line with the cap. A trade or release would get Johnson out of Detroit, something he may not mind in a comeback scenario given the comments he made this offseason. The potential Hall of Famer turns 32 in September.
This probably shouldn’t be a surprise, but it appears Patrick Mahomes has leapfrogged Tyler Bray on the Chiefs‘ depth chart after their first preseason game, Adam Teicher of ESPN.com reports. Despite the rare first-round investment from a franchise that spent a generation signing free agent quarterbacks or trading for them, the Chiefs first installed Mahomes as their third-stringer to start camp.
Injuries are again affecting Markus Wheaton‘s status. The Bears wideout missed over a week of camp because of an emergency appendectomy and didn’t return until Saturday, but the fifth-year pass-catcher now has a broken pinkie finger sidelining him, Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com reports. John Fox doesn’t have a return timetable for Wheaton. The Bears signed three veteran wideouts to one-year deals, but Wheaton received more of a commitment than Kendall Wright or Victor Cruz. Wheaton is guaranteed $6MM in 2017 as part of his two-year contract. Dickerson adds the Bears still envision a large role for Wheaton, who missed 13 games last season due to a shoulder injury.
The Jets drafted safeties with their first two picks, leading to a shakeup this offseason. But one of their second-stringers may not be playing for them for a while — if at all — in 2017. Second-year safety Doug Middleton is expected to undergo surgery after suffering a torn pectoral muscle in Gang Green’s first preseason game, Manish Mehta and Daniel Popper of the New York Daily News report. Middleton and Rontez Miles were running with the Jets’ second team behind Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye. An ex-UDFA, Middleton will seek a second opinion, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post (on Twitter). The Jets signed safety Robenson Therezie earlier Sunday, a sign they believe they may be a man short going forward.

NFC Rumors: Watkins, Elliott, Eagles

August 12th, 2017 at 8:57pm CST by Sam Robinson

Sammy Watkins addressed his contract situation for the first time as a Rams employee on Saturday. Rams GM Les Snead said Friday he hopes to sign the recent trade acquisition to an extension and avoid a one-and-done scenario for the former first-round pick. But it doesn’t sound like Watkins is especially anxious to discuss a new deal just yet. The former Bills No. 1 target may be willing to take his chances he can enhance his stock this season.

“I gotta handle my business and control what I can control. If I go out there and have a year that I’m expecting to have, then we can talk contract,” Watkins said, via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com. “But I still gotta go out there and do my job and let those guys handle the paperwork, contracts, numbers.”

Watkins is a free agent after this season. Plenty of dominoes could fall to rearrange the marketplace between now and free agency, though. Joining Watkins as walk-year receivers are DeAndre Hopkins, Jarvis Landry, Alshon Jeffery, Terrelle Pryor, Jordan Matthews, Allen Robinson and Davante Adams. Extensions for players in this group will affect the others. But Watkins is also coming off an injury-plagued season, so the 24-year-old pass-catcher staying healthy is probably his top obstacle in the path of a possible eight-figure-per-year deal. On that front, Watkins said (per Gonzalez, on Twitter) his foot is “100 percent healthy.”

Here’s the latest from the NFC:

The advisors who played a key role in the Ezekiel Elliott investigation did not recommend a specific suspension to Roger Goodell, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reports. The commissioner handed out the six-game ban to the Cowboys running back in accordance with the December 2014 adjustment to the personal conduct policy that mandated a minimum six-game suspension for domestic violence. While Josh Brown managed to receive only a one-game ban for his alleged domestic-abuse incidents, the NFL followed its revised protocols in the Elliott case.
One off-field allegation appears to be in Elliott’s past, however. The accusation from a man who said Elliott broke his nose at a bar in July is closed, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said (via David Moore of the Dallas Morning News, on Twitter). McCarthy added the caveat of new evidence potentially prompting the league to revisit the matter, but for now, it’s closed. Local authorities closed this investigation shortly after the alleged incident occurred, with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk pointing out the victim could not be located.
Carson Wentz did not appear to be pleased by the Eagles trading Matthews to the Bills. The second-year quarterback met with Howie Roseman just before news of the trade broke. “I spoke with Howie shortly before it was news. He told me is was already done,” Wentz said, per Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com. “He obviously knew how I felt with Jordan being one of my best friends. On the personal side it’s tough. He knew that, he was prepared for that and I told him that.” Matthews has been Philadelphia’s most reliable receiver over the past two seasons, leading Philly wideouts in receiving yards by comfortable margins in each. Shorr-Parks adds in a separate piece the Eagles will regret this trade. Of the players the Eagles are projected to start now, only Nelson Agholor is controlled past 2017. Shorr-Parks notes Jeffery’s injury history, Torrey Smith‘s rough 2016 season and the uncertainty surrounding Agholor don’t provide much certainty for this corps.
The draft choice the Eagles will receive in the Matthews/Ronald Darby swap is not a conditional third-rounder, as it was initially reported on the NFL transaction wire. The Eagles will send the Bills their third-round pick in 2018, Jeff McLane of Philly.com tweets.

Bills Acquire WR Jordan Matthews

August 11th, 2017 at 12:02pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Bills have announced their second major trade of the day, as they’ve acquired wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a 2018 third-round pick from the Eagles in exchange for cornerback Ronald Darby.

Matthews, 26, will presumably step into the void left by Sammy Watkins, whom Buffalo shipped to the Rams earlier today. However, Matthews isn’t the outside receiver that is Watkins, as Matthews has spent the majority of his career in the slot. In fact, he’s a relatively similar player to veteran pass-catcher Anquan Boldin, whom the Bills also now employ. Matthews has been a productive offensive weapon through his three-year career, averaging 75 receptions, nearly 900 yards, and six touchdowns per season.

Of course, Matthews’ contract status also plays a role in this trade, and was likely a key factor in the Eagles trading him away. Matthews is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and now that Philadelphia has Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith, Nelson Agholor, and Mack Hollins in tow, the club had made no effort towards extending Matthews’ contract. Buffalo, on the other hand, should be expected to work towards a multi-year agreement with Matthews, as the franchise tag is too expensive for a slot receiver.

By dealing Matthews, the Eagles have finally acquired a young, experienced cornerback, the defensive item their roster has been craving most. Philadelphia ranked second in DVOA against the pass in 2016, but that was largely due to its excellent pass rush. While the Eagles added Sidney Jones in the second round of the draft, he may not be ready to play immediately as he returns from injury. Before Darby came aboard, Philadelphia’s top defensive back options included a lackluster cast of Patrick Robinson, Ron Brooks, Jalen Mills, and Rasul Douglas.

The Bills are instituting a new defensive scheme under head coach Sean McDermott, so it’s possible Buffalo didn’t view Darby as a fit. But the former second-round pick has been productive through two NFL campaigns, although his Pro Football Focus graded tumbled from 85.9 to 62.7 (68th among corners) in 2016. Darby is eminently affordable, as he’s under team control for two more seasons with base salaries hovering around $1MM each year.

Through each of their trades executed today, the Bills have acquired a vast amount of 2018 draft pick capital. Buffalo already owned two first-round picks next year as a result of the Patrick Mahomes draft day deal, and now has received an additional second- and third-round selection for next season.

Latest On Jordan Matthews

August 6th, 2017 at 10:30am CST by Rory Parks

Eagles wide receiver Jordan Matthews was mentioned as a trade candidate before free agency opened, but since he remained on the roster even after the team signed Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery and drafted Mack Hollins and Shelton Gibson, those trade rumors all but disappeared. Recent developments, however, have led to renewed whispers that Matthews could be dealt.

For one, Matthews is dealing with knee tendonitis that kept him out of a good portion of spring practices, and though he is yet to miss a practice in training camp, Tim McManus of ESPN.com says that Matthews has struggled to “get right” since sustaining a bone bruise last August. Plus, the team has made no effort to engage in substantive extension talks, which, as McManus writes, is pretty telling given that executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman has a history of re-upping homegrown players early if they have been identified as part of the team’s core. Of course, it’s difficult to properly evaluate what an extension for Matthews would look like anyway, as he has performed well to this point in his career but he is a fairly unexplosive slot receiver who profiles as a No. 3 wideout on a contending team.

Then there is the fact that Nelson Agholor, the former first-rounder who was all but written off a few months ago, excelled when filling in for Matthews during the spring, and he has carried that strong performance into training camp. Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network recently said, “[Agholor] has had a total rebirth. He’s in the slot. He’s going to live in the slot. He’s going to be their slot receiver. I’ll be shocked if he’s not. I don’t know what that means for [Matthews]. Agholor is a lot more dynamic.”

Marcus Johnson, who signed as a UDFA last year, has also been impressive, as has Hollins. And while it would be foolhardy to put a lot of faith in Agholor at this point, not to mention a former UDFA and mid-round draft choices who have yet to prove anything, Roseman would certainly be justified in dealing Matthews now and getting some sort of draft pick compensation in return instead of letting him walk away for nothing in 2018.

For what it’s worth, McManus says trading Matthews would be unnecessarily risky, though it looks like more of an option now then it has in some time.

Eagles Notes: Matthews, Revis, Flowers

August 2nd, 2017 at 10:16am CST by Zachary Links

The latest from Philly:

Although wide receiver Jordan Matthews is entering the final season of his rookie deal, the Eagles haven’t made any progress towards an extension with the former second-round pick, according to Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Matthews was reportedly dealing with knee tendinitis and didn’t practice much during the spring, but some in the Eagles organization believe Mathews sulking about his contract, per Bowen. Last week, Matthews was fully cleared to participate in training camp, tweets Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, and declined to elaborate on the status of his knee. However, he did tell Tim McManus of ESPN.com that he would “literally never” sit out due to contract concerns. Entering his age-25 campaign, Matthews is scheduled to earn $1.095MM for the upcoming season.
Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com ran down ten cornerbacks that the Eagles could trade or sign for. The list includes Darrelle Revis, even though the former shutdown corner has clearly lost a step or three. Although Revis was bad in 2016, he wasn’t quite as bad as the Eagles’ cornerbacks in the writer’s estimation. Revis gave up three touchdowns last year, which was still less than Eagles No. 1 cornerback Leodis McKelvin‘s seven surrendered TDs. Brandon Flowers, Sam Shields, and Leon Hall are among the other veteran possibilities highlighted.
Wide receiver Marcus Johnson is a legit contender for the Eagles‘ roster now that he is healthy, David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News writes. Johnson, 23 on Saturday, joined the team as an undrafted free agent last year but did not have a chance to see live action thanks to a quad injury he suffered in camp. His arrow is now trending upwards as he looks to fill a spot behind receivers Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith, Jordan Matthews, Nelson Agholor, and rookie Mack Hollins.

Dallas Robinson contributed to this post.

NFC Notes: Redskins, Eagles, 49ers, Vikes

May 24th, 2017 at 7:09pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Quarterback Kirk Cousins indicated Wednesday that contract talks between him and the Redskins will go down to the July 15 deadline for franchise-tagged players, per JP Finlay of CSN Mid-Atlantic. “Deadlines do deals,” said Cousins, who added that July 15 “will be a telling date, as it was last summer.” Cousins and the team weren’t able to find common ground then, leading him to play last season under the $19.95MM franchise tag. As of now, Cousins is set to make around $24MM as the Redskins’ franchise player in 2017, and that number will climb to $34MM-plus if the club tags him again next offseason. While astronomical, that figure wouldn’t necessarily scare off Washington, according to president Bruce Allen.