Ryan Mathews was, without question, the best running back on last year's Philadelphia Eagles. Only that's not how it was supposed to be. Really, it's not that diminutive backup Darren Sproles wasn't effective when given the opportunity - it's just that there weren't many opportunities for him to make use of, even with big-ticket free agent DeMarco Murray failing to do much other than bend Jeffrey Lurie's ear and hasten the departure of Chip Kelly. So the lead role in the Philly backfield fell to Mathews, the former San Diego Chargers first-round pick, a guy whose always had the talent, but has struggled to remain healthy and on the field.
Despite Murray's trade this offseason and the limited options at running back beyond Mathews and Sproles - Kenjon Barner doing it for anyone? - reports and rumors have continued to swirl that Mathews could be had in trade. That talk has quieted in recent days as the organization and fans have turned their attention to the 2016 NFL Draft, but a new report suggests that Mathews' availability may again become a topic of conversation.
Per the report, if the Eagles - said to be enamored with Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott - are able to land the former Buckeye in the first-round, they may then look to revisit trade talks involving Mathews.
The report also suggests that the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, of all teams, would be interested in talking turkey on Mathews.
There's a lot to unpack here, so let's take it piece-by-piece.
We're a little less than two weeks out from the 2016 NFL Draft, so rumors are going to be coming hard and fast. There's been talk of a Mathews trade since early March, shortly after Eagles GM/not GM Howie Roseman dumped Murray, so it seems there should be at least a little weight given to talk that they're still considering jettisoning him, though some plugged-in Philly media members have shot down the notion.
As for Elliott, whether or not you believe value aligns, Roseman himself has talked up the possibility of taking him with the No. 8 pick at the same time as reports have suggested that the Eagles are particularly high on the well-rounded ballcarrier.
It depends on your view of the likelihood of the Eagles actually having deep draft feelings for Elliott, but again, this seems to hold water.
From there though, things get a little dicey. The report doesn't suggest that it's an either-or scenario, where the Eagles feel they'd have to get rid of Mathews, who is set to count $4 million against the cap for 2016 and $5 million for 2017, if they landed Elliott.
The way it's framed, it's more that the teams - again, the NFC East-rival Cowboys and the Niners, the team that just hired Kelly - would be interested in resuming or starting up trade talks for Mathews.
This doesn't just seem iffy - it seems kind of stupid.
Crazier things have happened. It wasn't all that long ago that the Eagles traded a past-his-prime Donavan McNabb within the division to Washington. And if the Eagles aren't asking much, just looking to shed salary, the price probably wouldn't be very high.
But Kelly didn't leave Philadelphia on the best terms and Jerry Jones likely won't be looking to hand a favorable deal to the team that poached Murray just one offseason ago. And of course both teams pick ahead of the Eagles in the first-round, the Cowboys at No. 4 and the Niners at No. 7, so they could always just take Elliott themselves.
In the end, that the Eagles may be willing to trade Mathews makes sense. He's older (28), injury-prone and maybe too-well compensated - not a player the new regime wants to grow with.
But he could be a quality stop-gap option if Roseman's draft manueverings send the team in another direction, so keeping him makes sense too.
Really, the Eagles may well trade him whether they snag Elliott or not. It just won't be to the Cowboys or the Niners.
