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The Future of Jordan Matthews

Phire

By Phire
in Philadelphia Eagles

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Phire

Phire

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There's no denying Jordan's production but there's definitely a question as to whether that speaks to his skill level or just a byproduct of being part of an offense under Chip that ran tons of plays, or an offense under Doug that threw the ball a million times. Receivers came and went but Jordan was the one mainstay here. Bradford liked throwing to the slot and Carson had nobody else to throw it to. Even when Jordan was dropping footballs left and right or otherwise not really making impact plays, the volume was there. I don't think Jordan's a bad player. I do think our WRs were better with him here out of the slot. I do think we're a better team overall after the trade we made. But I do also think part of his production was volume rather than sheer force of talent.

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Jroc04

Jroc04

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Production isn't exactly a relative barometer across the league. There's a reason a Brandin Cooks, who has 215 rec. 2861 yrds 20 TDs, gets traded for a 1st while Matthews, 225 rec. 2673 yrds 19 TDs was basically given away. 

Cooks, with very similar numbers, changes an offense and in turn effects defensive coverage while Mathews makes his offense limited. The NFL just told you what they think of players like Cooks comparatively to players like Matthews. 

Jordan doesn't scare defenses. The Eagles have been the same team for a few years now. And the way defenses, particularly our division rivals, play us reflects as much. They keep everything in front and let us operate a dink and dunk because we lack outside, deep playmakers. Besides Sproles, we're vanilla, basic and predictable. Moving Matthews allows us to spread out the offense and dictate to defenses. In this case, addition by subtraction. Now, we're going to able to throw multiple looks and interchangeable parts all over the offense. Ertz, Sproles, Pumphrey, Agholor and Smith among others can now get snaps at the slot while Doug and Co. can really start to manipulate the offense to expose defensive weaknesses. It remains to be seen if Dougie P is the guy for the job but at least he's got some tools now. 

Basically, trading Jordan Matthews, as a focal point of the offense, will unshackle the attack and ultimately make the Eagles a more dynamic and unpredictable team. 

At least that's my take. 

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Phire

Phire

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33 minutes ago, Jroc04 said:

There's a reason a Brandin Cooks, who has 215 rec. 2861 yrds 20 TDs, gets traded for a 1st while Matthews, 225 rec. 2673 yrds 19 TDs was basically given away. 

Good post. It's not even real clear how much the Bills wanted Matthews:

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Another reason for Matthews to be upset is that it seems like Buffalo isn’t even super interested in him.

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It’s typically standard for a team trading for a player on a one-year deal to start negotiating a long-term contract. But it sounds like the Bills aren’t in a rush to keep Matthews. The Eagles’ 2018 third-round pick was the real prize of the trade for Buffalo.

Contrast that to what’s going on in Los Angeles with the Rams. They traded with Buffalo because they really wanted Sammy Watkins. Rams GM Les Snead publicly admitted the team wants to extend his contract.

The point I’m trying to make here is that this Eagles-Bills trade indicates Matthews’ value was not very high. I’ve seen some question why the draft pick had to included and this trade wasn’t just a player-for-player swap: Matthews for Ronald Darby. Now you have your answer.

 

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