Now that the Philadelphia Eagles and head coach Chip Kelly have officially parted ways with veteran guard Evan Mathis, all sorts of fun reports and rumors are emerging concerning the deterioration of the relationship and the events surrounding Mathis' release.
The more things come out, the more it sounds like Mathis' fate as an Eagle was sealed well prior to the team actually parting ways with him Thursday.
"Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Eagles nearly traded Evan Mathis during the draft," reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
That's interesting for several reasons, not the least of which being that Kelly and the rest of the Philly brass were reportedly hot on the trail of a one, Mr. Marcus Mariota, so Mathis' availability could have potentially been directly linked to that.
Of course, the Eagles very well may have just been trying to rid themselves of an expensive, disgruntled veteran and would have taken whatever late-round pick was being offered by an interior offensive lineman-needy team.
It's also interesting because Kelly suggested after the draft that the Eagles had gotten no offers for Mathis. He even went so far as to say that they'd had no offers for the grizzled vet at any point of the last two seasons.
"Evan's been available to trade for two years now and we've never had an offer for him," Kelly said at the time, via Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer. "That's through his agent and him. They've asked if he could renegotiate a contract and see what he could get and we've obliged him with that, but we've never had an offer."
Florio's report echoes that of a separate McLane article, wherein McLane also suggests that talks with another team regarding Mathis heated up before the draft only to fall apart once the board fell in a particular manner.
"But teams were interested, including one that engaged in talks before the draft only to change its plans after the first round, sources said," writes McLane.
Interestingly, while Kelly and the Eagles were willing to make an effort to flip Mathis for what would likely have amounted to moderate compensation in late April, they were just looking to cut ties as quickly as possible by June.
"According to the source, no serious efforts were made to trade Mathis before releasing him this week," writes Florio.
Mathis, despite his high salary - $5.5 million for 2015 - and advancing age - he'll turn 34 this season - would seem to carry at least some value in trade. By cutting him the Eagles will receive nothing in return for a player who has now made two consecutive Pro Bowls and is consistently lauded by Pro Football Focus as one of the top guards in the league - even if that rating is mostly empty.
Still, considering Kelly's focus on culture, getting the message across that not buying into the Eagles program and putting money over winning will get you booted may have been more important than the late-round pick he'd likely have been able to get in exchange for Mathis.
