Talks Between Dolphins & Evan Mathis “Ongoing”, Mathis Seeking Around $5.5M

According to Barry Jackson and Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, dialogue between the Dolphins and free agent G Evan Mathis is “ongoing.”

Jackson writes that the Dolphins’ do, in fact, have interest in potentially signing Mathis, but his asking price is much higher than they’re willing to pay for a free agent guard at this point in time. Mathis is reportedly seeking close to $5.5 million in salary.

Salguero mentions that people close to Dolphins owner Stephen Ross have advocated signing Mathis. However, they are reportedly looking to offer him a similar deal to the stopgap contracts signed by Daryn Colledge and Samson Satele in recent years, which were around $2-$3 million per season.

Should some of the team’s young guards struggle during the Dolphin’s  Friday’s scrimmage or next week’s preseason opener, Miami could change their stance.

For what it’s worth, the Jets have also considered the possibility of pursuing Mathis, but there really hasn’t been a lot of buzz regarding the idea in recent days.

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

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 rated as the No. 1 player in our Top 25 Available Free Agents list.