If the Oakland Raiders are going to make some noise in 2015, young franchise signal-caller Derek Carr needs to get healthy, stay healthy and develop a rapport with his array of explosive new weapons, including, but not limited to, recent high draft picks Amari Cooper and Clive Walford, recent free agent addition Michael Crabtree and holdover from the previous regime potentially ready to bust out, Latavius Murray.
If Carr is to continue his development and turn the hopes of Raider Nation into reality, he'll need strong protection up front in order to do it.
While Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie and head coach Jack Del Rio started that process by adding center Rodney Hudson in free agency and drafting Jon Feliciano in the fourth-round of the 2015 NFL Draft, further reinforcements are needed if the Raiders really want to take a step forward offensively next year.
As such, recently released guard Evan Mathis, formerly of Chip Kelly's Philadelphia Eagles, could prove to be a pretty perfect fit on the inside for an up-and-coming Raiders team looking to protect a budding young star.
"Evan Mathis wanted this outcome. He wanted a raise from the Eagles more, but learned quickly that Chip Kelly wasn't going to give him that. So he wanted out of Philadelphia so that he could get his fair value elsewhere. It's a risky proposition," writes Greg Rosenthal of NFL.com.
"Mathis was due $5.5 million in 2014 and that will be a difficult salary to find at this stage of the offseason. So what team has enough cap space and desperation to pay the oldest projected starting guard in the league that kind of money? Look to Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie! Mathis will be driven to get top dollar, and the Raiders are a logical team to pay it. I look at this Mathis contract as an experiment to see how much a Pro Football Focus ranking is worth. The analytics website has essentially put Mathis' play at a Hall of Fame level since 2011. We'll see if McKenzie agrees."
While Rosenthal's reasoning here is a bit tongue in cheek, it really does make sense for the Raiders to bring in a player who, despite missing seven games due to a knee sprain last year, still managed to make his second consecutive Pro Bowl.
Mathis' value may be pumped up by PFF's continually high ranking, but he's also still a high quality starting guard in the league with little in the way of wear and tear on his body - despite being 33, Mathis has appeared in just 78 career games.
The Raiders do already have the one of the oldest projected offensive line's in the NFL, but adding Mathis to a left guard spot currently manned by soon-to-be second-year player Gabe Jackson would upgrade not only one spot, but presumably two, as Mathis taking over full-time on the left would allow some combination of Jackson, Khalif Barnes, Matt McCants and Feliciano to battle it out for the other, increasing the level of competition and forcing one of the players to actually earn the job outright.
While Mathis' price tag isn't likely to be cheap - he was slated to make $5.5 million in base salary in 2015 - he's one of the better guards in the league and with his low mileage could very well stay that way for several more seasons.
With a young signal-caller desperately in need of protection in order to continue his still-in-process development in Carr, there's really no price you can put on ensuring he stay healthy and productive heading into a crucial second NFL season.
