There are a lot of NFL teams that could utilize veteran guard Evan Mathis' services, but maybe none more so than the Miami Dolphins.
The Dolphins are set to enter 2015 with a couple of mostly unproven third-round picks, Billy Turner and Dallas Thomas, manning their two interior spots on the offensive line. Turner and Thomas have a total of 22 NFL games of work between them and only nine starts, all of which belong to Thomas and all of which came just last season.
While Mathis was still a member of the Philadelphia Chip Kelly's rumors swirled that the Dolphins would potentially be interested in dealing for his services. Now that he's a free agent, Miami may again be one of the likeliest candidates to land the Pro Football Focus darling.
"I think Evan Mathis will get the raise he was looking for in Philadelphia elsewhere, but it will take time. I'm told 10 teams are interested in the former Pro Bowler, who was set to make $5.5 million in 2015 but was instead released at one of the worst possible times in the NFL calendar. Depth charts are all but solidified across the league, and several teams who would have been interested in signing the 33-year-old at the start of free agency no longer have the cap room," writes Robert Klemko of MMQB.SI.com.
"My money is on the Dolphins eventually making the deal."
10 teams being involved means it's certainly no lock for Mathis to wind up with the Dolphins, but there seems to be no team in the NFL with as glaring a need at the position and the requisite cap space necessary to make the move.
According to Spotrac.com, the Dolphins have about $10.117 million in cap room at present. Reports emerged in the wake of his release that Mathis was seeking a deal with a similar value as the one he was already operating under - base salaries of $5.5 and $6 million in 2015 and 2016 - but that he wanted more guaranteed money or more incentives built into the contract which would allow him to increase his earning power.
Now that he's on the open market, he's free to find the deal that he was seeking while keeping himself out of Eagles offseason work this offseason. Whether or not he's able to garner that type of contract remains to be seen, but there's no doubting that he'd help shore up a guard spot for the Dolphins that could become a major hindrance to young franchise quarterback Ryan Tannehill's development if things don't go as planned for Turner or Thomas.
Of course, paying a soon-to-be 34-year-old guard significant guaranteed money usually isn't advisable, so this will be a delicate situation for the Dolphins brass to feel out if they choose to pursue Mathis.
