Evan Mathis May Have Overestimated His Market?

June 15, 2015

Jordan Raanan of NJ.com spoke to a front-office executive, a salary cap expert and an agent about the kind of market former Eagles G Evan Mathis could find now that he’s a free agent.

Interestingly enough, two of Raanan’s sources suggested that Mathis’ best-case scenario could end up being a one-year contract with a limited salary.

Here are the three suggestions for Mathis’ next contract:

Executive: one-year deal worth $3-3.5 million and incentives up to $5 million
Salary Cap Expert: three-year deal worth between $14-17 million and $6-8 million guaranteed
Agent: one-year deal worth $3-4 million and incentives up to $5.5 million

Raanan mentions that if the executive and agent are correct, Mathis’ agent would have drastically underestimated the market for his client.

However, if Mathis can walk away with a multi-year deal and something close to $6-8 million guaranteed, Raanan believes the gamble could be worth it in the end.

A number of teams could have interest in bringing Mathis aboard, depending on his asking price, but it sounds like he and his agent are comfortable waiting for the best available deal.

Mathis’ agent, Drew Rosenhaus mentioned after his client’s release that he anticipates there being “a lot of interest” from NFL teams.

“It’s wide open and there’s a lot of interest in Evan,” Rosenhaus added. “Between now and the start of training camp, I definitely expect him to have a new home. I think we’ll be methodical. We won’t necessarily rush into signing immediately.”

According to Rosenhaus, finding an opportunity with a winning team is critical to Mathis.

“As far as ranking Evan’s priorities, I definitely think winning is critical to him…. The contract has been an issue, so that’s a factor. Fortunately, he’s going to have some options.”

Mathis, 33, is by far the best available free agent offensive lineman and should have a decent market for his services.

Since he became available, the Bills, Dolphins, Giants, Jets, Seahawks, Chiefs, Patriots and Vikings have all come up as potential options.

Last year, Mathis appeared in nine games for the Eagles after he dealt with an MCL injury. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 2 guard out of 78 qualifying players.

We have Mathis listed as the No. 1 player in our Top 25 Best Available Free Agents list.