Matthews thankful to be back home in Philly
PHILADELPHIA >> The lowkey Monday practice over, the Eagles having done their meeting work, most of the players showered and gone, there was Jordan Matthews in a relatively quiet NovaCare Complex locker room. It was good to be home. “Awesome,” he said, entertaining a crowd of reporters, answering limitless questions, almost beaming.
Though he’d left the place before, it was almost as if he never wanted that to happen again.
“This is something that me and my family were praying for,” he said. “I love playing with these guys. I love playing in the city of Philadelphia, playing with Carson (Wentz), playing with Zach (Ertz). When Howie (Roseman) called, my wife and I were just ecstatic.”
Roseman buzzed Matthews last week, not long after realizing that DeSean Jackson’s abdominal injury was not going to allow him to play football without a surgical repair. The Eagles were in destinycontrol shape in the NFC East, yet were also enduring a season of too many dropped passes. For that, they needed someone in a hurry, someone who knew the routine, the personnel, the system.
So Matthews it would be, a sixth-year wide receiver who had been bumping in and out of the Eagles’ plans since he was their secondround draft choice out of Vanderbilt in 2014. Productive for three years, Matthews was traded to Buffalo in 2017 for Ronald Darby. A thumb injury dulled his only season in
Buffalo, then he signed with New England but sustained a hamstring injury and was released with an injury settlement. A month later, with Doug Pederson in need of pass-catching help, Matthews returned to the Eagles.
His contract up at the 2018 season’s end, Matthews signed a free-agent deal in San Francisco, which never found him valuable enough for regular playing time, cutting him in August, bringing him back in October and releasing him two weeks ago. So back to the Eagles it was after Jackson was re-injured early in a game against the Chicago Bears.
“It’s good that my locker is next to my man,” Matthews would say Monday, recognizing that he was next door to Ertz. “And I keep moving down the room. I figure the closer I get to J.P.’s (Jason Peters) locker, I’ll stay here longer.
“I’m not going to fight him for that one, though.”
Matthews is not around to fight. He’s around to provide some reliability for a team desperate for some pass-catching consistency.
“We just pull up his highlights,” offensive coordinator Mike Groh said. “He has made a lot of plays for the Eagles over the years. He’s got excellent football intelligence.
He knows our system. He has great familiarity there. There is great comfort with him in the huddle. He’s got a great chemistry with Carson. It’s just great to have him back.”
Though widely speculated that he would be mostly a slot receiver, Matthews be used in various roles, according to Groh. As far as the receiver is concerned, though, only one role matters: He’s an Eagle.
“I couldn’t wait for this day,” said Matthews, who had to endure a bye week before rejoining his former team. “That was a long week. I was as anxious to get to work as anybody. That’s good, though.”
Matthews has been helpful if not spectacular in his Eagles career, starting in 38 games and catching 60 passes, 21 for touchdowns. He will be expected to make an immediate contribution.
“I feel like it has been that way every single time,” he said. “When I got drafted, they needed production, and I knew I had to come in, work hard and play. Then last year, it was the same thing, ‘OK, come on, we need you to immediately come in and produce.’
“That’s what I do. If the opportunities are there, I will go out and make plays. So the moment is not too big for me,”
Neither is the transition back to a team where he is familiar with the facilities, the quarterback, the culture, the coach and the situation.
“It’s all good,” he said. “The chemistry is there. There’s not much of a process of acclimating. Every other place I’ve gone, that usually takes two, three weeks. But coming back here, it’s like being home, seeing everybody, saying, ‘What’s up? What’s up?’
“And now, it is time to get back to work.”
•••
The Eagles have extended their commitment to 30-year-old guard Brandon Brooks, giving him a four-year contract extension Monday. The new pact will run through 2024.
The new deal is for a reported $54.2 million. His original pact, signed in
2016, was for $40 million. A member of the Eagles’
2017 championship team, Brooks played in his second Pro Bowl at the end of last season.
••• Claimed off waivers from the Vikings last week, safety Marcus Epps engaged in his first Eagles workout Monday.
Oddly, he would fill the roster opening left when Andrew Sendejo was waived, claimed by Minnesota, and took his spot with the Vikings.
A sixth-round Minnesota draft choice out of Wyoming, the 6-0 Epps had played mostly on special teams for the Vikings.
“Anything the coaches need or ask me to do, I am ready,” he said. “I am ready give this team and this fan base everything I have. That’s what I plan on doing. I will put my head down and go to work.”