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The trading away of LeSean McCoy this offseason led to many people wondering about the direction of the Philadelphia Eagles. After all, McCoy was a Pro Bowl player who quietly put together a halfway decent season last year, despite heavy losses along the offensive line. To fill that gap, Chip Kelly went out and double-dipped into the free agency pool. Say hello to one of those players, former San Diego Chargers rusher Ryan Mathews.
The 12th overall pick in the 2010 draft, Mathews has been a difficult player to get a hold of. When he was on the field Mathews looked the part of a solid, borderline elite rusher capable of big numbers. But that potential never fully materialized in San Diego, thanks to the multitude of assorted injuries that has plagued Mathews so far in his career. So it was understandable when the team decided they couldn’t wait any longer and moved on from Mathews with Melvin Gordon.
What’s great for the Eagles is that San Diego’s loss became the Eagles’ big gain. Much like his other rushing compatriot Demarco Murray, Mathews is tailor-made for Kelly’s offense. He’s a hard, one-cut runner that can take a hit and fight for extra yards. While he may not be the fastest runner ever, he certainly has enough speed to blow past a defender. And his potential in the passing game is a huge bonus; it was a knock against him coming out of college, but Mathews has really developed that aspect of his game. Provided he can shake the injury bug, he’s going to have a great situation to play in. His well-rounded and hard-nosed approach is going to serve him well, both to the team as well as the fans.
Mathews’ biggest competition for touches is going to be Murray. Murray signed himself a pretty fat contract to come here, while Mathews came here for a comparatively reasonable price. Also, Murray is coming off of a fantastic year as the league’s top rusher so Mathews is almost certainly going to be playing second fiddle to him and vying for some of his carries. But that’s not to say that Mathews won’t have his chances. With Murray and Mathews, the Eagles are expected to go with a more run-heavy attack, both to establish Kelly’s fast offensive tempo and to protect new quarterback Sam Bradford.
So even though Murray will be the top dog in the Eagles’ backfield, Mathews will have plenty of carries himself as the “1A” option on the depth chart. There shouldn’t be much drop-off between these two players either, so the Eagles’ rushing attack should be solidly consistent all year long. Don’t expect monstrous numbers out of Mathews; a 800-yard, 6-touchdown kind of year is what you can reasonably expect if all goes to plan. That kind of production, combined with Murray’s expected impact, should make the Eagles’ backfield the most dangerous in the game.
Welcome back, power running game. We’ve missed you.
Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL. Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL.
