Philadelphia Eagles: See you next year, Jordan Matthews

Jordan Matthews, while your third consecutive tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles has come to an abrupt end, there’s always next year.

In a lot of ways, football – and really all sports – are cyclical.

Sure, a team will go on a surprise run every so often and punch above their weight class, but generally speaking, things stay the way they are.

You win some, you lose some, it means everything and nothing at all – yet we keep coming back for more because it feels familiar; and there’s comfort in that familiarity.

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So when the Philadelphia Eagles opted to re-re-sign Jordan Matthews for his third straight stint in as many seasons, it almost felt like a yearly tradition.

You see, every year the Eagles trout out a slightly tweaked receiving corp, and every year fans trick themselves into believing that this group of players – that all but surely features Alshon Jeffery, Mack Hollins, and Nelson Agholor – will be better than the last.

And yet, like clockwork, things regress to the mean.

DeSean Jackson delivers the most exciting game by an Eagle since, well, probably when he was a member of the team back in 2013? He suffers a season-ending abdominal injury the following week and misses the rest of the season. Agholor passes the century mark in Week 2? He records 204 yards combined over the next eight games all the while crushing the spirits of Philly fans the world over.

But hey, at least Matthews is a pro, right? I mean he’s only a few seasons removed from catching 73 balls for 804 yards in the same offense. Surely Carson Wentz‘s best friend can help this offense win, right?

Wrong.

Through two games with the Birds in 2019, Matthews was targeted 12 times. On those targets, the Vanderbilt product caught four for a combined 33 yards and no touchdowns.

Those numbers are horrible.

To be fair, it must be hard to join a team 10 weeks into a season and instantly be expected to contribute to the offense, but then the 27-year-old ‘possession receiver’ gets thoroughly outplayed by a 24-year-old undrafted rookie who didn’t even play wide receiver in college, its apparent something has to change.

To Howie Roseman‘s credit (I guess), at least he did something.

After two straight games of the worst wide receiver play imaginable, Roseman and company waived Matthews to free up a roster spot. Will it be used to add another receiver, like, say Antonio Brown? Could the Eagles instead opt to claim Rashaan Gaulden, the 2018 third-round safety the Carolina Panthers waived on the same day? Oh gosh, do I have to screen my Twitter mentions for Colin Kaepernick haters?

Regardless of what happens next, one thing is clear: Jordan Matthews isn’t, wasn’t, and won’t be the Eagles’ biggest problem.

dark. Next. Carson Wentz is the problem… and the solution

While cutting Matthews may signal that the receiving corp is getting healthier, or that Greg Ward has finally earned a long-term roster spot, it’s all but certain the front office will come calling yet again when they need a competent wide receiver in a pinch. So see you next year Jordan Matthews, because you know what they say: Once a Philadelphia Eagle, always a Philadelphia Eagle. (Shout out to Jake Starr for the article title idea, follow him on Twitter @jstarr1999, he’s dope).

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