Philadelphia Eagles: How fast can Jordan Matthews get to Buffalo?

With a must-win match against the Buffalo Bills on the books, the Philadelphia Eagles should fly out Jordan Matthews and sign him on the spot for Week 8.

When the Philadelphia Eagles traded Jordan Matthews and a third-round pick to the Buffalo Bills midway through the 2017 preseason, it forever changed both party’s futures.

For Philly, the addition of Ronald Darby played a considerable role in the team’s eventual Super Bowl run, but things didn’t work out quite so well for Matthews in Buffalo.

After an incredibly sad trip to the airport, Matthews suffered a chest injury at his with the Bills before finishing out an injury-shortened 10-game season with 25 catches for 283 yards and a touchdown – by far his lowest mark has a pro to that point.

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While this lone season in Buffalo did end Matthews – and the Bills – postseason drought, it destroyed any chances of the then-25-year-old earning a big-money deal one spring removed from an 804-yard performance in Doug Pederson‘s debut season as a head coach.

Now don’t get me wrong, Matthews was never and will never be a true number one receiver, but the fact that teams continue to value the veteran receiver as nothing more than a mid-season, buy-low replacement, as opposed to a player worthy of a long-term deal, is beyond me.

And yet, it continues to happen.

After signing a deal to join the New England Patriots in April of 2018, Matthews was unceremoniously released with a hamstring injury and sat unemployed for the first two weeks of the season – at least until Howie Roseman and company came calling.

With a horrible receiving corp hampered by injuries (sound familiar?), the Eagles brought back Matthews on an unguaranteed contract to serve as their fourth wide receiver behind Nelson Agholor, Alshon Jeffery (when healthy) and eventually Golden Tate.

The results? Not so bad. Granted, it wasn’t an exact replication of his 997 yards and eight touchdown performance in 2014, but Matthews finished out the season with 300 yards on 20 catches for a career-high average yards-per-target of 10.7. Call it the benefit of a limited sample size, but Matthews was actually incredibly effective when re-paired with his best friend Carson Wentz, as he caught a career-high percentage of his targets from the QB when compared to the likes of Sam Bradford, Mark Sanchez, and Tyrod Taylor.

And yet (again), Matthews hit the open market without much interest.

While some (like yours truly) hoped the Eagles would bring back Matthews to fill a safety blanket role in Wentz’s first season without Nick Foles breathing down his neck, the 27-year-old ultimately latched on with his cousin Jerry Rice‘s former squad on a one-year deal; but once again, that one-year deal was actually a preseason deal.

With an influx of talent acquired in the draft, the Niners cut Matthews in the final trim down to 53, where he remained until he was eventually brought back for one game – at least until he was waived once more to make room for trade acquisition Emmanuel Sanders.

Could that be it? Will Matthews receive another opportunity to play in the NFL after failing to be retained three times in one 365 day period by a trio of teams not particularly known for their receiving prowess?

Let me ask you this, can Matthews get to Buffalo in time for 1 pm? Because the Eagles could desperately use their former draftee’s services in a pivotal Week 8 game.

DeSean Jackson is out, Nelson Agholor is on the trade block, and Alshon Jeffery may or may not be the anonymous source that keeps creating locker room tension. Sure, the team still has promising tight end Dallas Goedert, much less effective (in 2019) tight end Zach Ertz, special teams stalwart Mack Hollins, and 2019 second-round pick Miles Sanders to haul in passes, but do the Eagles have a single receiver who is more consistent than Matthews play-in and play-out?

I’d argue no.

As things presently stand, the Week 8 Eagles won’t suit a single pass-catcher – tight end or wide receiver – who is catching 70 percent of his targets. Furthermore, of said wide receivers, only two, Agholor and Jeffery, have averaged more than 21 yards a game.

To say Matthews can’t fit into that receiving corps is just shortsighted.

While there are a few external options the Eagles could target before the trade deadline t fix their receiving woes – with the consensus favorite being Philly’s own Robby Anderson (more on that here) – any move will likely cost notable draft capital and may ultimately be for not if the team continues to inch towards irrelevance.

Matthews, for better or worse, won’t cost much, already knows the team’s scheme, and is among Wentz’s best friends – what more could a team in crisis ask for?

With three incredibly inexperienced defensive tackles (Bruce Hector, Anthony Rush, and Albert Huggins) taking up roster spots behind Fletcher Cox, the Eagles could make room for Matthews’ addition and use him as a bridge at minimum until the team returns to some semblance of full strength with relative ease.

Can Jordan Matthews alone fix the Philadelphia Eagles’ ineffective passing game? No, probably not, but at this point, Doug Pederson, Carson Wentz, and company can use all the help they can get to keep their playoff chances alive in the feverishly competitive NFC. Hopefully, all of the red-eyes to Buffalo aren’t fully booked.