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The Philadelphia Eagles signed free agent wide receiver Jordan Matthews, according to an official announcement from the team.
JMatt’s signing was first reported last week but hadn’t been confirmed until now. Here’s what we wrote at the time:
Matthews’ return marks his third stint with the Eagles since being drafted by the team in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Matthews was a productive volume player during his first three seasons with the Eagles before he was traded away to the Buffalo Bills in 2017. Matthews signed with the New England Patriots during the 2018 offseason but injury issues derailed his stay there. Matthews eventually ended up re-signing with the Eagles early in the season last year and was even productive as a role player with 20 receptions on 28 targets for 300 yards (team-high 15.0 average) and two touchdowns. He also had a 37-yard touchdown reception in the Eagles’ playoff loss to the New Orleans Saints. Matthews then left Philly in the offseason to sign with the San Francisco 49ers, who released him prior to Week 1 only to bring him back for a brief stint and then cut him again.
All of this is to say it’s been kind of a strange path for Matthews. Regardless, he’s back in Philly now with a chance to help a team that’s mightily struggling to get good production out of their current wide receiver corps.
Matthews’ presence isn’t suddenly going to revive the Eagles’ passing attack. There’s a reason the 27-year-old hasn’t been highly coveted as a free agent for most of the season. But Matthews could at least be an upgrade on Mack Hollins. And he does have a good relationship with Carson Wentz, so that gives the Eagles’ quarterback at least one receiver he can trust both on and off the field.
It’ll be interesting to see how much the Eagles get Matthews involved in the game plan upon his return. The guess here is that he’ll see a decent chunk of playing time as a role player.
The Matthews re-re-signing means the Eagles now have five receivers on the 53-man roster: Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, Matthews, Mack Hollins, and JJ Arcega-Whiteside.