Eagles bring back Matthews; place Wallace on IR
PHILADELPHIA » One year after he exited, Jordan Matthews rejoined the Eagles and good friend Carson Wentz.
It put a bounce in the step of Wentz and Eagles head coach Doug Pederson. With no starting quarterback questions to speak of, and the wide receiver shortage solved, Pederson was beside himself with happiness.
“The galaxy is in balance,” Pederson said. “Jordan looked good in the workout, he’s healthy, we’re excited to get him back. It’s part of where we are with the receivers and the injuries and things of that nature. But we’ll work him this week and see where his role is going to be and try to get him in the mix.”
To make roster room the Eagles put wide receiver Mike Wallace on injured reserve. Wallace fractured his fibula early in the 27-21 loss last Sunday to the Buccaneers. Also on injured reserve is Mack Hollins. NFL rules allow the Eagles to bring back one, or both after nine weeks.
Matthews certainly won’t have trouble finding his way around the complex. The Eagles took the 6-3, 215-pound product of Vanderbilt off the board in the second round of the 2014 draft.
While Matthews caught 225 passes for 2,673 yards (11.9 ypc.) and 19 touchdowns in three years with the Eagles, he left you wanting more, like in the 2015 season. Needing 57 yards to finish with 1,000 yards on the season, he caught seven of nine passes thrown his way for 57 yards in the regular season finale against the Giants.
Matthews’ last season with the Eagles was one injury after another, although the gritty veteran missed just two games. Then head coach Chip Kelly was fired with one game remaining, Doug Pederson became the Eagles’ 23rd head coach, and Matthews was shipped to the Buffalo Bills with a third-round pick for cornerback Ronald Darby, now a starter. That was a difficult loss for Wentz, who called his own news conference to lament about his pal.
“Obviously with Jordan, I feel good with him,” Wentz said. “He was gone only one season. He was here last training camp. He’s picking up on things pretty quickly already. We’ll see as the week progresses how he looks and how he fits in and everything but I feel comfortable with him and really everybody else.”
Matthews fits the profile of a veteran wide receiver that could give the Eagles immediate help.
“He has familiarity with the coaching staff, we have familiarity with him,” Pederson said. “He knows our offense. It’s only been a year, really, since he left. A lot of similarity there. It’s just a matter of catching up.”