FEATURE BACK
A healthy Mathews will go a long way for Birds offense
PHILADELPHIA >> There have been signs. There have been promises. There have been achievements. A year here, a year there. A game here, one there. The occasional great play. Hints of greatness.
“They brought me here,” Ryan Mathews was saying Tuesday, before the Eagles practiced at the NovaCare Complex, “for a reason.” That was the reason. He had two 1,000-yard-plus rushing seasons. He had size, good hands, power. He was in the Pro Bowl in 2011. And has that been five years ago already?
Mathews joined the Eagles last season, in a swirl of Chip Kelly moves, arriving so close to DeMarco Murray that the two might have had to swerve to avoid fender-bending oneanother as they drove their luxury SUVs into the parking lot. And it was a lost year, for Murray, who is gone, for Kelly, who is gone, and for Mathews, whose health and production will define Doug Pederson’s rookie year as a head coach.
He’s 29 and healthy, though he did have a bit of an ankle issue during training camp. And he is going to be trusted as the No. 1 Eagles back, without asterisks. It’s his time again, as it was in 2013, when he ran for 1,255 yards and scored seven touchdowns for the Chargers. It’s his time to stay healthy and be ready and accept every duty, including picking up some of the protection for Sam Bradford, what with the offen-
sive line less than stable. So? “I just want to be available in any position they put me in,” Mathews said. “I think I’ve grown. Coming into a new scheme and everything, with what they are calling, you have to learn. The coaches do a good job of getting you up to speed and to get you in the right position to make a play and stuff.”
Mathews scored a touchdown in the first preseason game, then rushed five times for 18 yards in a 17-0 victory in Pittsburgh. He seems ready, looks strong and has shed that Murray weight. If so, plenty can fit into place. If he can be the 1,000-yard-rusher that he has been, then it will open the passing game, allowing Sam Bradford to thrive. If Bradford is thriving, it will lessen the pressure on Pederson to hustle Carson Wentz into action. If the offense is working, the Eagles have the defense to win games.
“I’ve always thought that Ryan has that unique
blend of speed and size and a physicality about him,” said offensive coordinator Frank Reich, who also helped coach Mathews in San Diego. “That’s his strength. That’s how we have to use him. And I think that as he has grown in this league and furthered his career, he has gotten better in the passing game as well.
“We are not afraid to have him out there on the passing downs. We know what we are going to get. He has speed. He has explosiveness. And he’s got physicality. He is a back who runs hard and that kind of energizes your whole offense.”
The Eagles have options. They want to make full use of Darren Sproles. Wendell Smallwood, a rookie, is casually viewed as the feature back of the future, but he has had quad issues. Kenjon Barner has impressed Reich. So Pederson will have options. One of those, though, has proven capable of rushing for 1,200 yards in a bigleague season, is in his career prime, is healthy, is willing.
“I’ll take as many
chances as they want me to get,” Mathews said. “I’m not too worried about it. As soon as my number is called, I am going to make the best of it, like I always do.”
He has made the best of it sometimes. Not always. He has played six NFL seasons, only once making it through 16 games. Last season, he played 13, rushing for 539 yards. But it’s about opportunities. And this season, Mathews will have the opportunity to be a Pro Bowl-level back again.
“I am a running back,” he said. “So I want to get as many chances as I can. We have a lot of good running backs in the room. It might be split up and everything. But I am going to make the best of what I can get. And when my number is called, I am going to give it 150 percent.”
He has shown the signs that he is capable of a big season. If he has one this year, it could be contagious.