The Eagles announced today that they've agreed to terms with 7-year veteran OG Evan Mathis, who last played with the Bengals. Mathis (6-5, 302) was a third round pick of the Panthers in 2005.
With Winston Justice currently on the PUP list, still apparently recovering from offseason knee surgery, the offensive line is certainly a question mark. While Mathis is probably a depth guy more than anything, adding a vet guard could possibly give them the option of moving Todd Herremans over to right tackle. Also, I suppose Danny Watkins could get a shot over there as well, as he was a tackle in college.
Mathis has made his desire to get out of Cincy fairly clear in a series of tweets this offseason, including making his feelings on Bengals owner Mike Brown quite clear.. The most telling was this.
Free agent = choices. 2 winning seasons since 1990 = next.
Maths could be an interesting under the the radar move. Our pals over at Cincy Jungle say that when he's the lineup the one plays well and the team wins, yet for some reason the Bengals coaches don't play him enough.
As we've pointed out countless times, when Mathis starts at left guard, the Bengals interestingly win football games. Mathis was graded as the third best linemen during pass and rush blocks by Pro Football Focus during a seven-game stretch that the Bengals went 6-1. He graded as the second-best overall lineman for the entire year and as this awesome reward, they replace him with a player that Pro Football Focus graded as one of the worst offensive linemen on the team.
So who knows? Maybe the Eagles find a diamond in the rough here. Or maybe he's Reggie Wells 2.0.