Broncos agree to terms with 2 time Pro Bowl guard Evan Mathis

[cdumler7]

Sounds like there were a few teams interested.

What I am interested in is who was the team that offered him $5.5 million earlier today? From the rumors the Chiefs were the team pursuing him the hardest. So if he is saying that he turned down a team that offered him more money because he wants to play for a contender man that is a slap to the face for KC. The other team linked to him quite a bit is Seattle. I can't see him saying that about them though but I could see him struggling with wanting to block for Russell Wilson. I have heard OL players hate blocking for those QB's that love to run around as it is so much harder to understand how to block a player because you just have no clue where your QB is going to go on any given play.

 

[cdumler7]

Well I was basing some of this on our own Mark Schlerth when he was first released or short time after. He certainly had a negative opinion on him and his " grade". Heard other comments from others as well about his " asking price " being deserving.

He is getting up in age and has had some injury concerns. So yes I do think his price in Philly was about in line with his ability. The problem that we have seen in Philly is some players were getting a bit frustrated with how things were going with Chip Kelly. Have to remember that Chip has been trying to trade Mathis since he got there pretty much. I could see how that relationship soured very quickly. His ability when healthy though I would say puts him among the best at his position.

 

[Malibu]

According to PFF he was ranked the number 2 ranked guard.


Broncos sign free agent guard Evan Mathis to one-year deal

 

[cdumler7]

Sorry yes he was the 2nd ranked guard. HE is the 3rd highest rated guard on Madden. Got those two confused.

 

[randymon]

When I first heard he was released I also believed he would be great signing for Denver then I heard some negatives plus his asking price and lost interest. Have to say though that now looking up some Mathis news, not too negative from those sites. I hope he is the pro bowler he was few yrs ago. That will be huge for this line. Can't believe everything you read/hear, good or bad until you see it for sure.

 

[SpringStein]

When I first heard he was released I also believed he would be great signing for Denver then I heard some negatives plus his asking price and lost interest. Have to say though that now looking up some Mathis news, not too negative from those sites. I hope he is the pro bowler he was few yrs ago. That will be huge for this line. Can't believe everything you read/hear, good or bad until you see it for sure.

This is how it works for me:

If he signed w KC, I believe all the bad.
He signs with Broncos, I believe all the good.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Been a little concerned about starting three guys on OL who have never started a regular season game. Could be a very valuable signing.

 

[cdumler7]

I will say this...As excited as I am for this signing it definitely does have some red flags that come with it. The first and probably biggest is he does have some major injury history. When healthy it is hard to find a better guard but he has struggled at times to stay on the field. Now with him another year older can we trust him to make it through an entire year? We shall see.

The other is it didn't sound like he was a very popular guy in the locker room for Philly. While he brought great play on the field it sounds like players were turned off by his attitude off the field. Now usually guys moving to a new team are usually on a better behavior compared to after years being in a locker room so maybe that negates some of this.

The final part is it does move promising guard Garcia to the bench. While we would have gone through some rookie bumps along the way Garcia definitely showed some great promise that I think he does deserve to start but looks like that will be put on hold for a year while he backs up the 3 interior positions.

 

[randymon]

I don`t know about the rest of you but I like Mark Schlerth. I think he doesn`t hold anything back and is pretty smart and knowledgable esp on the interior line and is well respected by many players,etc.. Besides the issues painted by Mark and his former teammate regarding Mathis, Mark also pointed out that the grading system on ( individual) interior line play is somewhat flawed. If the rbs
avg 4.0 yds a carry and the QB sack total is top ten or so, pretty much everyone on that line is given a good grade. Doesn`t matter if you missed your assignment but the rb or tackle "got your back" on the play, it looks good in the stat line. My take on whether a guy can be a good addition on your team is how well he is thought of by his peers/teamates than by his grade. To think that he would not resign with Eagles ( who are right next to Denver) in SB odds and not sign with Seattle or KC for more money and then sign with Denver for less doesn`t make much "business " sense as both those teams are just as much SB contenders in alot of peoples eyes as Denvers. I don`t know.

 

[cdumler7]

Well I was basing some of this on our own Mark Schlerth when he was first released or short time after. He certainly had a negative opinion on him and his " grade". Heard other comments from others as well about his " asking price " being deserving.

They just had Stink on Denver Radio. He essentially said that if this was a power running scheme Mathis would be a terrible signing. He isn't the go out and slug the guy in the face type OL. What he is though is a great fit in the ZBS and what Kubiak really likes to do. He said he has been out at Denver practices talking with Kubiak as Kubiak asked him to come watch the young guys and voice what he thinks and Stink said while they are showing promise the problem is the young guys just don't know how to use their hands yet. He said they need a year of development before they are really ready to contribute so signing a guy like Mathis allows for the team to do just that. Plus he said this makes Manning feel much better knowing there is another veteran on the Line helping especially to block his back side.

 

[randymon]

Well there ya go. It certainly isn`t a bad signing. It pretty much is a band aid to give the young guys more time to develop. Hopefully he pulls his weight in the meantime. I`d like to see him make a diff that`s for sure.

 

[Malibu]

I don`t know about the rest of you but I like Mark Schlerth. I think he doesn`t hold anything back and is pretty smart and knowledgable esp on the interior line and is well respected by many players,etc.. Besides the issues painted by Mark and his former teammate regarding Mathis, Mark also pointed out that the grading system on ( individual) interior line play is somewhat flawed. If the rbs
avg 4.0 yds a carry and the QB sack total is top ten or so, pretty much everyone on that line is given a good grade. Doesn`t matter if you missed your assignment but the rb or tackle "got your back" on the play, it looks good in the stat line. My take on whether a guy can be a good addition on your team is how well he is thought of by his peers/teamates than by his grade. To think that he would not resign with Eagles ( who are right next to Denver) in SB odds and not sign with Seattle or KC for more money and then sign with Denver for less doesn`t make much "business " sense as both those teams are just as much SB contenders in alot of peoples eyes as Denvers. I don`t know.

I try to avoid ESPN as much as I can. Just a bunch of guys that like to hear them self talk and don't believe half the shit they say. ESPN is a joke.

 

[Malibu]

Nothing against 'Stink" a great former Bronco but he works for ESPN and he is just like the others.

 

[cdumler7]

Cool stat of the day on Mathis...while run blocking has been what people really know about him he has given up the fewest sacks of any OL player over the past four years. He has given up only 6 sacks in that time span.

 

[58crash]

I try to avoid ESPN as much as I can. Just a bunch of guys that like to hear them self talk and don't believe half the shit they say. ESPN is a joke.

This in spades ...still Stinky knows our system and I have no problem with what he said . We could of went with Rookies but to do that we would of needed the best OL Coach out there . This OL coach is not that feller

 

[cdumler7]

Another interesting part of this is Manning obviously took the $4 million cut earlier this off season. It didn't look like the Broncos had done a ton in spending that money to help Manning out. They did use a couple of high draft picks but nothing much beyond that. So now we see what patience can get us in now having signed a Pro Bowl caliber Guard in Mathis for what coincidentally is that $4 million (if he maxes out the deal).

 

[cdumler7]

I have started going back and watching Mathis' games from last year to see if he is all hyped by the PFF grade or if he is the real deal. I will say I am impressed with the guy. I have only watched so far his first game back from his MCL Sprain from last year against Carolina (known for having a great DL) and so far the man has been perfect. In the pass blocking department he does a great job of getting down low to win the leverage battle. Pretty much every time I saw him just pretty much stand up the DT or whoever he was blocking and essentially eliminate them from the play.

In the Run Blocking department he wasn't quite as sharp in my opinion as he did look a little winded at times and gave up after making initial contact. I'm hoping as I watch some of these other games that this improves some but he still got his block each time. He also isn't going to be a mauler for us. He is though going to be the guy that will hit his spot and his guy every time and lock that guy up. I also saw him on one touchdown run take on 2 DT's around the goal line and completely stop both of them in their tracks by himself.

Now the biggest negative I did see from him and again hoping maybe as he gets back into football shape in the rest of these games from last year is that there were some plays he quit a bit before the whistle. There was one pass play that he had his guy completely blocked out of the play and I think he had an internal clock that said the ball should have already been thrown. He just all of a sudden put his hands down and his guy almost got around him to get to Sanchez. Almost. Thankfully when Mathis realized it hadn't been thrown he at the last second got his hands back up and kept the guy from getting there. With how quickly Manning gets rid of the ball though I don't think that should be a huge issue.

 

[cdumler7]

Few things more to add...Sorry just very excited about this addition.

Mathis has stayed in very good shape according to the coaches that he should for sure be ready by week 1. They are not planning on playing him this week against San Fran though as they ease him into the line up.

Mathis talking to the media afterwards said that people throughout this off season have kept asking him if the Broncos were a team he was considering and he said that the Broncos never had contacted him or his agent until the last minute here. He said he thought the Broncos would be a very good fit a long time ago but had to wait for them to reach out and want him. Sounds like we really did wait until the last minute. What some teams will actually do is call the agent and say something along the lines of we are not ready to make an offer yet but definitely contact us once some team presents you with an offer and we will see what we can do. Either that or an agent will start shopping the player around once they get that first offer seeing if some team would be willing to match it or that Mathis would think is a better fit.

 

[Mingo]

If he helps - Great - if not - keep looking. I'm excited to see him play.

 

[cdumler7]

If he helps - Great - if not - keep looking. I'm excited to see him play.

He is not a huge commitment with only making $2.5 million so yeah if it doesn't work out then doesn't hurt us like crazy. If it works out though we have just added another Pro Bowl level player to a very loaded team.