Eagles realease Mathis

[PhillyGreen]

Mathis is going to end up with the Giants. Chip just solved their OL problems. Nice job.

Mathis alone will not solve a teams OLine problem. He will help provided they already have good Olineman. The Giants do not fit that bill.

 

[Deano]

Time to get out there and sign Justin Blalock. Just as good as Mathis and cheaper.

 

[PhillyGreen]

Mathis missed 9 games last year and we had a slew of injuries and the Eagles still finished the year as one of the best performing offensive lines in the NFL. That alone should confirm that Chip knows what he is doing.

 

[eaglesnut]

I will say that I was surprised by how many teammates publicly dissed him. He clearly was not popular.

??

Who said what?

 

[eaglesnut]

Eagles will be just fine. Smart move by Chip.

What's "smart" about it?

 

[eaglesnut]

Mathis missed 9 games last year and we had a slew of injuries and the Eagles still finished the year as one of the best performing offensive lines in the NFL. That alone should confirm that Chip knows what he is doing.

The line sucked the first half of the year without Mathis and Kelce.

 

[eaglesnut]

Time to get out there and sign Justin Blalock. Just as good as Mathis and cheaper.

Sounds like he's not really a fit in a zone blocking scheme. Curious why he hasn't been picked up yet. Reliable veteran guard. In a pinch he sure looks like the best guy out there though.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

This might be the dumbest move so far for ol Chipper.

We needed to upgrade the OL this offseason and didn't and then you let go of one of your best OLmen.

WTF

Chip is definitely putting his finger print on the roster. I'm not sure if I would've released him, but I get it.

Mathis wanted more money, but if you're a ($5 mil + cap hit) playing OG...you don't need to be asking for more money...that's why they couldn't trade him. Bad job by his agent not to read the market and note that his player was already among the top paid OGs...Tampa was desperate to take on a contract like Mankins.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Sounds like he's not really a fit in a zone blocking scheme. Curious why he hasn't been picked up yet. Reliable veteran guard. In a pinch he sure looks like the best guy out there though.

Blaylock...apparently he doesn't want to come off his number, big reason he was let go in ATL... but I've heard that about ZB scheme as well because ATL should not be releasing any good OL.

 

[deerpathdave]

They did fine without him last year?

That's right, that's the period when the iggles running attack led the league and set the record for consecutive 100 yd games by a running back and for the least amount of sacks wasn't it.

They had a better record without him than with him. Various stats I have seen don't really show a better performance offensively with Mathis. The big exception to that is PFF which seems to absolutely love the guy. The thing is though is anyone watching the game from the outside doesn't really know how good a guy does as they don't know what the player is expected to do on any given play.

Mathis is a good player, but he really has no special athletic skill. The other lineman are all just as talented. Barbre, Tobin, Gardner and Kelly have all been in the system long enough to fully understand it. Not saying they are better off without him, but I am not convinced they are worse.

 

[old duke]

Get Blalock Chip! I believe he's younger than "Evvy girl".

 

[deerpathdave]

Herremans: Mathis 'Brought It Upon Himself' - Birds 24/7

Interesting take from Herremans. Here is a guy with inside knowledge and if anything you would expect him to be a little negative on Kelly after being released. Yet he seems to be coming down more on the side of backing Chip on this one. If anyone would have Mathis's back, you would think it would be Herremans....but no.

 

[Deano]

Hollis Thomas said on WIP that Mathis is only an average OL.

 

[deerpathdave]

Pretty good analysis from Mike Sielski....

Let's look at last season, then, and what Mathis may or may not have meant to the Eagles' offensive line, taking into account all the possible caveats and factors. Those factors include the quality of the Eagles' opponent each week and the understanding that a quarterback can be as responsible for causing sacks, or even more responsible, than an offensive line.

Mathis played in nine games: the season opener, when Nick Foles was the starting quarterback, and the eight games that Mark Sanchez started. Over the seven games that Mathis missed, the Eagles averaged 122 rushing yards a game. Over the nine games he played, they averaged 127. The difference was negligible.

It wasn't when it came to protecting Foles or Sanchez. Foles threw 311 passes last season, Sanchez 309. But Foles, who started seven games without Mathis, was sacked on just 2.8 percent of his pass attempts. Sanchez, who didn't start a game without Mathis, was sacked 6.9 percent of the time. That's 21/2 times more frequently than Foles. You can say that disparity was based largely on Sanchez's tendency to hold the ball, or Foles' to get rid of it. What you can't say is that Mathis made the Eagles' pass protection, or their run-blocking, significantly better last season. Chip Kelly definitely wouldn't, and as everyone learned again Thursday, his is the only opinion that counts.


Read more at Kelly dismisses another star who wouldn't buy in

 

[greenwing]

This was a stupid move. He should have made him play out is contract. No point of letting what was suppose to be a strength in your line now become a weakness over contract squabbling. Just stupid.

 

[CSB]

Mathis is going to end up with the Giants. Chip just solved their OL problems. Nice job.

That's my concern as well. I can't believe we couldn't get something for him from some AFC team.

 

[deerpathdave]

This was a stupid move. He should have made him play out is contract. No point of letting what was suppose to be a strength in your line now become a weakness over contract squabbling. Just stupid.

This is the way a business GM like Howie would have done it. Sit on him until the end of August, and cut him at the last minute if he doesn't cave. The only thing you risk there (and it's not insignificant) if that its a lousy thing to do to a player. It gives them little chance of catching on to another team and recouping any of the money they would make. That can be a huge deal in attracting Free Agents in the future.

Chip is a football oriented GM who is big on culture. He did not want a guy in camp eating up reps that didn't want to be there and grousing to other players in the locker room. He would rather focus on the guys that want to play football.

It became clear during OTAs that they like Barbre at LG and likely would have kept him there even if Mathis came back. Everyone wants to talk about being fair to Mathis, but what about Tobin and Barbre? These are a couple of guys busting their butts and showing up every day. Kelly didn't want to have Mathis waltz into camp and take their job(s), and it would have been counterproductive as well to put Mathis at second string.

 

[ctc]

Pretty good analysis from Mike Sielski....

Let's look at last season, then, and what Mathis may or may not have meant to the Eagles' offensive line, taking into account all the possible caveats and factors. Those factors include the quality of the Eagles' opponent each week and the understanding that a quarterback can be as responsible for causing sacks, or even more responsible, than an offensive line.

Mathis played in nine games: the season opener, when Nick Foles was the starting quarterback, and the eight games that Mark Sanchez started. Over the seven games that Mathis missed, the Eagles averaged 122 rushing yards a game. Over the nine games he played, they averaged 127. The difference was negligible.

It wasn't when it came to protecting Foles or Sanchez. Foles threw 311 passes last season, Sanchez 309. But Foles, who started seven games without Mathis, was sacked on just 2.8 percent of his pass attempts. Sanchez, who didn't start a game without Mathis, was sacked 6.9 percent of the time. That's 21/2 times more frequently than Foles. You can say that disparity was based largely on Sanchez's tendency to hold the ball, or Foles' to get rid of it. What you can't say is that Mathis made the Eagles' pass protection, or their run-blocking, significantly better last season. Chip Kelly definitely wouldn't, and as everyone learned again Thursday, his is the only opinion that counts.


Read more at Kelly dismisses another star who wouldn't buy in

Those stats are a prime example of 'figures don't lie and liars figure'. 21.5x more frequently

And how many of those sacks was Mathis responsible for? Without providing that information the author is offering a narrative, not insight.

 

[ctc]

They had a better record without him than with him. Various stats I have seen don't really show a better performance offensively with Mathis. The big exception to that is PFF which seems to absolutely love the guy. The thing is though is anyone watching the game from the outside doesn't really know how good a guy does as they don't know what the player is expected to do on any given play.

Mathis is a good player, but he really has no special athletic skill. The other lineman are all just as talented. Barbre, Tobin, Gardner and Kelly have all been in the system long enough to fully understand it. Not saying they are better off without him, but I am not convinced they are worse.

So left guards are now the deterring factor in a teams won/loss record?

 

[deerpathdave]

Those stats are a prime example of 'figures don't lie and liars figure'. 21.5x more frequently

And how many of those sacks was Mathis responsible for? Without providing that information the author is offering a narrative, not insight.

Its a typo. Should be 2.5 times. The difficulty with evaluating line play is that its very much a team effort, and really only the coach can properly assign responsibility as an outsider evaluating tape really doesn't know. So we kind of have to trust the coaches on this one when they say they are comfortable with the backups. As an outsider, we can only really evaluate the line play as a whole (as the author did). And there really is little question that the line as a whole performed as good or better without Mathis last year. As the author notes, there can be a myriad of reasons for that. Suffice it to say though that losing an Offensive Guard (regardless of how good) has rarely had a huge impact on a team's performance.