The Philadelphia Eagles have been shopping a trade for Evan Mathis this offseason and rumors had the Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and NY Giants as potential destinations for him and now that offseason workouts have started, this will be the prime time a deal may go through, as the NFL draft is just a couple weeks away now as teams start to prepare their final boards.
Mathis is getting up there in age, but his talent is as good as anyone at his position and he would be an upgrade on any of those teams and they all could use a boost, especially the Miami Dolphins and NY Giants. Both those teams struggled along the offensive line and in the rushing game last season and that is why they ended up near the bottom of the league in rushing yards per game and adding someone like Mathis could help that greatly in 2014.
Mathis is 32 years old and is looking for a better contract from the Eagles after signing a five-year, $25 million contract in 2012 and that is another reason why he is being shopped. The Eagles have some decisions to make and he could get moves ahead of the NFL draft if the right deal comes along.
The Eagles could use to make another deal ahead of the NFL draft and one reason why they were shopping DeSean Jackson in the first place was so that they could get a pick or two in return. Once teams realized they would release him they probably pulled back and now the Eagles come into the draft with just six picks and that could be one reason why Chip Kelly is shopping the guard. The team gave up their sixth round pick last season in a trade with the Patriots for a fifth round pick and then the team traded that to the Saints for their running back Darren Sproles.
Making another trade now could give Kelly another pick later in the draft and that would enable the team to add another prospect or possibly package picks to move down or up in the draft for someone they are targeting. The Dolphins come in with what I like to call a straight draft, as they were not awarded any compensatory picks and they have one in each of the seven rounds, starting with the number 19 pick. The team could live with giving up one of their later round picks, as they signed Branden Albert and Knowshon Moreno in the offseason.
The team is still likely to go after a running back in the draft, as they ranked 26th oiverall in the league last season in yards per game and that was with Daniel Thomas and Lamar Miller handling things. The team loves what Moreno brings and since the position is deep in this draft, names like Carlos Hyde, Jeremy Hill, Andre Williams and Tre Mason could be options. Hyde comes in after putting up 1,521 yards and 15 touchdowns for the Buckeyes and Mason was very good with Auburn, going for over 1,800 yards and 23 scores last season. Williams was a beast with 2,000 yards for Boston College, while Hill was also very productive with over 1,400 yards and 16 scores at LSU.
