Ex-Eagle Evan Mathis living Super Bowl dream
SAN JOSE, Calif. - For a 6-foot-5, 300-pound man with a high-ankle sprain, Evan Mathis deftly sidestepped questions about Chip Kelly, the Eagles, and whether he felt vindicated since the coach who released him has since been fired while he is playing in Sunday's Super Bowl.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - For a 6-foot-5, 300-pound man with a high-ankle sprain, Evan Mathis deftly sidestepped questions about Chip Kelly, the Eagles, and whether he felt vindicated since the coach who released him has since been fired while he is playing in Sunday's Super Bowl.
"I'm trying to avoid headline, bold-quote things," Mathis said. "Just dancing around. What else do you got?"
While both sides ultimately lost something when Kelly decided to release Mathis - the Eagles lost a Pro Bowl lineman, and Mathis lost money - the Broncos guard ultimately chose to play for a team that gave him an opportunity he had yet to have in his first 11 NFL seasons.
"This is the ultimate dream for a pro football player - to be able to play in the Super Bowl, win a Super Bowl," Mathis said Monday at SAP Center during Super Bowl media night. "I've been in the league a long time and haven't had this opportunity yet. I'm extremely excited to be here."
Mathis, like many of the Broncos, walked into the arena with a camera. He then mockingly filmed a handful of Philadelphia-area reporters who wondered whether he would puff out his chest after Kelly was fired in December with one game left in the Eagles' season.
"I'm just following my plan," Mathis said. "I'm not searching for vindication or anything like that."
Mathis' best years, of course, were with the Eagles, even if it was only for four seasons. His Super Bowl credential photo was actually of him in Eagles green. He earned all-pro honors in 2013 and was voted to the Pro Bowl in 2013 and '14. His best seasons may have come in 2011 and '12, though.
But Mathis wanted a new contract. He signed a five-year, $25.5 million deal in the 2012 offseason. He was slated to earn $6.5 million and $7 million in the last two years. He skipped all of the voluntary workouts last spring, but before he had a chance to show up for mandatory minicamp in June - he reiterated that he planned to come - Kelly cut him.
Mathis didn't get picked up until August, right before the season.
"You try to find out what's going on there," said John Elway, the Broncos' vice president of football operations. "But once we went through the process with Evan and got a chance to meet Evan, we weren't concerned about it."
Mathis came cheap considering his previous contract. He signed a one-year deal worth $3.25 million. He ultimately made $2.85 million because he didn't meet certain playing-time incentives. Even with a hamstring injury and then a high-ankle sprain, Mathis still played 73 percent of the snaps.
"He went about five or six weeks of playing on one ankle," Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. "We kind of worked our way through. He played sparingly for us."
As the season wore on, Mathis increasingly split time with rookie Max Garcia. He said that was part of the plan even before his injury woes. But he still played in all 16 games as the Broncos won the AFC West and earned the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
Mathis started in the Broncos' divisional playoff victory over the Steelers and played every snap. He started the next week in the AFC championship against the Patriots, although he played about 75 percent of the time. He said he'll start on Sunday against the Panthers.
"I've done that before in my career - the rotation thing - and I didn't like it," Mathis said. "But what it was able to do for me physically this year as well as going toward the investment of the development of a young player like Max, it's really worked out."
Mathis, who will be a free agent this offseason and turns 35 in November, said that he hasn't lost a step.
"If I'm not hurt, I know I'm still as fast and as strong as I've always been," Mathis said.
The struggles of the Eagles' offseason line, on the other hand, mirrored that of the team's. Allen Barbre replaced Mathis at left guard but wasn't comparable, at least to Mathis during his Eagles tenure.
Mathis said he paid a little attention to Eagles' goings-on. He still spoke to various ex-teammates and couldn't escape updates on social media. He said that he thought the pressures of coaching in Philly might have led to Kelly's early departure.
There were several Eagles and former Eagles who spoke about Kelly's inability to relate. Asked if he agreed, Mathis said: "I think he tried his best."
And then he smiled and stopped talking.
@Jeff_McLane