Jordan Matthews played five seasons with the Eagles. He believes fellow Vandy product Eli Stowers will be a ‘silent killer’ in Philly

When former NFL wide receiver Jordan Matthews returned to Vanderbilt as an offensive consultant and he saw Eli Stowers’ capabilities up close, he installed a few plays from his time with the Eagles — specifically ones that had featured tight end Zach Ertz.

“Mario,” for instance, was a goal line pass play that often resulted in Ertz touchdowns. In an overtime thriller against the New York Giants in 2019, Ertz scored twice on the design — once late in the fourth quarter and again with the game-winner.

Six years later, Matthews thought Stowers, a former quarterback-turned-tight end, could execute the route.

“I’m like, ‘He’s got the savviness to sell the flat, cross the guy’s face, make a tough catch,” Matthews said.

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The play just needed a new name.

“They’re like, ‘Jordan, what do you want to call it?’” Matthews said. “And then somebody was like, ‘Let’s call it ‘Philly.’”

Alas, the Commodores never got to “Philly” last season. But Stowers got there on Saturday, a day after the Eagles selected him in the second round of the NFL draft. When asked about the play, Stowers mixed it up with another Matthews had installed called “Blade.”

But the full-circle moment wasn’t lost on Matthews. Nearly 12 years after the Eagles selected the Vanderbilt receiver in the second round in 2014, he received a call from a successor of sorts.

“I was sitting in the car talking to my fiancée and I was like, ‘Man, I gotta text Jordan. I’m going in the second round of the same team …,’ Stowers said Saturday from the Jefferson Health Training Complex. “And then I was like, ‘I should probably call him, right?’ She was like, ‘Yeah.’ So I called him.

‘He was about to go to sleep. He was like, ‘Man, I can’t even express how proud I am and how happy I am for you.’ And he was like, ‘Anything you need. I know everything about Philly. Let me know.’”

Matthews had to run — literally. He had to get up early the next morning to partake in his first ever marathon – the Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville. But after completing it and getting some rest, he spoke to The Inquirer and wanted to tell Philly everything he knew about Stowers.

He said the 23-year-old who grew up in Denton, Tex., and transferred from Texas A&M to New Mexico State and finally to Vanderbilt, would endear himself to Philadelphia-area fans because he has a “silent killer” disposition like popular current Eagles DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, and Jalen Hurts.

“The thing that’s the most endearing to Philly fans are guys that shut up and go to work,” Matthews said of Stowers. “They go to work, they get it done, they take criticism, they don’t complain. They don’t go back and forth with coaches, media, fans. They show up and get better.

“That’s what works in Philly, consistently.”

The Eagles, Matthews said, never reached out to him during their pre-draft scouting process. He had only returned to Vanderbilt before last season after retiring from the NFL last May following his final stint with the Panthers.

But Matthews took it upon himself to dial up general manager Howie Roseman in December. He wanted to get his advice on whether Stowers should opt out of playing in a relatively meaningless bowl game.

“I just asked him, ‘What do you think? Should I encourage him to play?’” Matthews said. “Just kind of talking about his rundown of how he feels guys in Eli’s position should handle it. But also it was kind of like, If he doesn’t play, it’s not gonna hurt him. So, I think, through that I kind of got the glimpse that, OK, I think they might like him.

“But Howie’s not gonna show his hand.”

Roseman played his card four months later. It seemed all but certain he would draft a tight end early. But with many prospects and different types of tight ends, there wasn’t anything close to a consensus on who they would take.

Would they go with quasi-receiver Kenyon Sadiq in the first round? Would they wait until Day 2 for a two-way tight end like Max Klare or Oscar Delp? Would they favor a bigger body who can block like Marlin Klein or Sam Roush?

Or would they shoot for Stowers, who won the 2025 John Mackey Award as college football’s best tight end, and jumped off the charts at the NFL combine, but faced questions because he had only played the position full-time for two seasons and didn’t project as a consistent blocker?

The Eagles didn’t seem to have any indecision. In Stowers, they saw more of what he has done and can do, rather than what he hasn’t and may not.

“If you kind of focus only on the things that guys can’t do, you’re going to have some negatives for the top players in the draft,” Roseman said on Friday night. “When you find guys who have unique skill sets, and we have a lot of confidence in our coaches and our staff to develop players, especially when they have high football IQ and high character and we know they’re tough, it’s exciting.”

The Eagles, in fact, considered Stowers’ transition a positive because of his quarterback pedigree. They have had plenty of experience with former quarterbacks. In 2014, they signed the undrafted Trey Burton and converted him into a tight end.

Burton was on the smaller side at 6-foot-2, 234 pounds. But he understood defensive concepts, having been a quarterback, and could get open vs. man or zone coverage. Stowers credited his experience under center with helping him get open in the middle of the field.

“Being able to just understand what’s going on, it kind of helps me figure out where the zones are, figure out if it’s man coverage,” he said. “And if it is man coverage, where’s the leverage? Are they inside? Outside? Is there a wrap player?

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“It just kind of helps me figure out where do I need to be for my quarterback to throw me the ball and be open.”

Matthews, who played with Burton as an Eagle, pointed to another former quarterback when he was asked for an NFL comparison to Stowers.

“I’m going to throw a name out here and people may be [like], ‘Are you serious?’ I’m just speaking from a standpoint of his approach to the game, and when I watch him — Travis Kelce was a former quarterback,” Matthews said of the Chiefs’ future Hall of Fame tight end. “You can tell Travis Kelce runs routes like he understands the defensive structure.

“He knows what the defense has given him, and so he knows how to find voids in zone. But then he’s also athletic enough to win vs. man.”

Stowers’ athleticism shows on film. But how would he test at the combine in February? Two weeks before the event, he strained his hamstring. He couldn’t practice the 40-yard dash, but when he got to Indianapolis he got medical clearance and decided to run.

“I just bet on myself,” Stowers said. “I was like, ‘Man, I want to compete. I came out here. This is a dream of mine, to come out and run a 40 out here.’ I wanted the 4.4 and I got close. But maybe if I didn’t get hurt, I would have got it.”

He ran a 4.51 seconds. Sadiq’s 4.39 was the only faster 40 among tight ends. For comparison, receiver Makai Lemon, the Eagles’ top draft pick, ran 4.53. But Stowers blew everyone away when he jumped 45.5 inches in the vertical — the best mark for a tight end in combine history.

“We knew how athletic Eli was, but he plays the game with such a calm pace. I don’t think people knew he was gonna run a 4.5. I don’t think people knew he was gonna be able to jump a 40-something-inch vertical,” Matthews said. “But all of us at Vanderbilt understood the type of freak that he was. It’s just he’s so smart and he’s so calm.

“He’s able to play the tempo that sometimes looks like — Is he going slower? No, he just understands what he’s seeing. He’s getting to where he needs to be in the timing of the play.”

The 6-foot-4, 239-pound Stowers isn’t small for his position. But his measurements aren’t higher than the 65th percentile. He run-blocked on about 33% of his snaps at tight end, so it’s not like he’s some neophyte to the discipline.

But he’s going to need to get stronger and learn better technique in the pros. Matthews said willingness and effort will never be a problem.

“He actually had some really good blocks in the Tennessee game,” Matthews said. “So this whole idea that Eli is just a pass-catcher, he’s just a glorified receiver masquerading around as a tight end, that’s not true. The kid is tough and he’s extremely willing.”

But George Kittle he likely will never be, nor should he, Matthews said. With veteran Dallas Goedert returning, and blocker Johnny Mundt acquired via free agency, the Eagles have two tight ends that can fill the in-line “Y” spot if Stowers is the “F” in the slot.

“When you get Eli in that offense and they start having him go through one-on-ones, and they see him running routes, they see how smooth he, you’re going to want him in the pass game,” Matthews said. “You’re not going to be fixated on putting him at the point of attack.

“Now you have to, just so you don’t tip off people that OK, when Eli’s on the field we’re passing. But I think it’s pretty commonplace.”

With new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion incorporating elements of the Shanahan scheme into the offense, there should be enough flexibility to rotate the tight ends or even shift them into other roles. Stowers should be able to flex out wide to the “Z” spot.

Matthews moved to tight end when he played for Kyle Shanahan with the San Francisco 49ers late in his career. For him, it was a relatively easy transition in that offense.

“It’s a very positionless scheme like that,” Matthews said. “The whole thing about Kyle Shanahan and how he does things, is he can give you a multitude of looks because you don’t really know who’s going to be the fullback, the “F,” tight end, the “Z” on any given play.”

At receiver, the Eagles are expected to promote DeVonta Smith into the No. 1 spot with A.J. Brown likely to be traded post-June 1. And Lemon, who mostly played in the slot at Southern Cal, should log considerable playing time, with recent additions Hollywood Brown and as also in the fold.

But Stowers, Matthews said, will be hard to keep off the field because of the potential mismatches he’ll create against slower linebackers down the seam and smaller defensive backs on the outside.

Stowers was also one of the best collegiate tight ends with the ball in his hands. Last season, he averaged 6.1 yards after the catch; the year before it was 7.5. He may need to improve on contested balls: He caught only 38% of jump balls from 2024-25.

But the sample rate was small — only 32 targets — and no one enters the NFL a finished product.

That’s partly what makes Stowers so intriguing. Despite his inexperience, he still caught 111 passes for 1,407 yards and nine touchdowns over his last two seasons. And his best games often came against ranked opponents like Alabama in 2024 and Texas in 2025.

“He showed up in big games,” Matthews said. “It wasn’t like, Oh, hey, he’s disappearing whenever we played hard competition. When the games got tougher, we went to Eli, and he constantly showed up. So he’s got a track record of being clutch.”

Matthews’ NFL career was a journey, from No. 1 receiver to traded to Buffalo to multiple return trips to Philly to near-bottom roster spots in San Francisco and Carolina. He nearly saw it all in his 10 seasons, and he knew what it took to thrive and survive.

He said Stowers has all the necessary off-the-field characteristics. When he first joined the Vanderbilt staff, he studied all the skill players to see how they conducted themselves in meetings and in the locker room, and how they nurtured their bodies.

Stowers stood out, initially in the film room.

“Eli sits in the front. He’s got his arms folded. He’s staring at the screen,” Matthews said. “He does not take his eye contact off the screen. He is locked in. And if they were coaching some young tight ends, Eli’s looking and he’s like, ‘Hey, man, I think you want …” He’s coaching them up.

“I’m like, this dude is locked in. This is a ball player. This is a guy with no distractions.”

Matthews continued: “Sometimes when it comes to [the] NFL they’re so used to guys ... that have a ton of extracurriculars. Eli is going to come in work, go read his Bible, and go home. He don’t do nothing else.

“It’s all ball, all family, all his faith, and it’s real.”

Faith, Stowers said, helped him navigate the end of his quarterback career. It was the only position he had ever played when he got to Texas A&M. But a shoulder injury early on affected his throwing, and when he transferred to New Mexico State — where his father, Don, had once played safety — he went to his coaches about switching positions.

“I know I have the ability, I know I have the athleticism. Then from that point, it’s just how hard can I work?” Stowers said. “How hard can I get in the film room and learn the position? How much work can I put on the field to get better at my techniques that you have to have at the tight end position that are new to me.

“It was immediate confidence because it was something that I could work towards and get better at.”

He never got the opportunity to run “Philly” at Vandy, but Eagles coach Nick Sirianni and Mannion could get creative with their rookie. “Blade” was called “Blackbeard” when Matthews and Ertz ran the dagger route concept.

“I actually ran it against South Carolina on like third and 21,” Stowers said, “and caught a first down on it.”

Matthews had Stowers as the No. 2 receiver on the play, knowing he could get depth on the in-breaking route.

“Once you get to that third-and-extra long, you only got one or two plays on the call sheet,” Matthews said. “It’s alright, let’s call ‘Blade.’ And [Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia] throws a dot to Eli and everybody’s like, ‘Great play.’

“And I’m like, ‘All I got to do is draw up something for Eli and it will work.’”

It should also work in Philly.