WhitewalkerInPhilly

I know he has physical limitations, but I would imagine that his body of work up until now would have silenced some doubts.

From the last three years, I've heard the exact same thing about Robey at this time: "Wow, he has such a high motor and such great ball skills. It's too bad about his size, and we have so many talented players in the secondary..." And he keeps kicking ass. I'm a little surprised that we seem surprised. With spread offenses and people going pass happy, is it really a shock that we want to have a counter to the Tavon Austin/Wes Welker/Amendola slot receivers that high powered offenses love?

Oh god, is it training camp yet?

As much as I take PFF grades with a grain of salt, they did wind up being spot on with Bradham last year. I remember not being thrilled with the pick at the time, but the more I hear of him, the more it sounds like Brandon Spikes, only he isn't a liability in coverage.

I shut down when he started to complain that Chris Gragg is more talented overall than the guy who won the award for best TE...or anybody. I think he's a psychic out in California

In response to the OP the Philly perspective is that it was a culture thing, and that it's Chip flexing his muscles. I think they mentioned last night that they were going to kick the tires on Mathis. No promises on getting him, especially since he wanted more money and we will be outbid, but a big part was the culture.

I hadn't heard that they wouldn't pursue Mathis. But I agree about Urbik.

As a note, I think it's entirely possible to believe that Chip Kelly is a brilliant coach, yet a really bad GM.

And he did cut Jackson, who was coming off a Pro Bowl year.

The sad thing is that he even mentions that Roman's style is perfect for EJ.

Really? That's the best you've got? C'mon, you can do better. You can joke that the best he could say about EJ is that he put on weight. EXLJ?

That's where I am too. They are the opening argument. I want EJ to win it, but I fully expect the decision to come in training camp when we have all of our receivers.

I'd do this in a heartbeat. Maybe structure it for a big payday in year three but balance the guaranteed money. Whaley is good at cap management. If we really want to, Incognito has nothing guaranteed left (I think) and would be gone next year anyway.

+1. This. I can barely remember the Super Bowl years. The first full seasons I can remember where when Kelly, Reed, Thomas and Smith were in their twilight years. I grew up with their image pristine and that there were the greatest of all time. As an adult, hearing about Kelly's incidents, and the Bickering Bills shocked me. NFL players are people. At some point, normal people get pissed off, say things in the heat of the moment and do stupid things.

Someone on Philly radio made a point that the GM's on all of the other teams saw something similar last year: an excellent player coming off a great system who wasn't exactly thrilled with the new situation and wasn't buying all in. Desean Jackson was cut for nothing but dead cap space. Chip had a precedent so there was little reason to take the contract as is and offer a draft pick.

I'm sorry, has he done anything at all in the last week to provoke your ire, or has this just been simmering? Seriously, everything he's done on the field so far I like. I don't necessarily agree with how he feels on how he was treated, but he decided to not put up with some obvious bull **** from some people looking for some quick clickbait. If anything, the way he handled the media last time makes me want to like him more.

Personally, I do think this backfires on Chip. Mathis might want more money, but there is absolutely nothing that can force Mathis back if he doesn't want to play for the man.

Kinda? I think McCoy was wrong about the race thing, for the record. But Chip certainly seems to dislike players who are A) outspoken and/or B) do not fully, 100% buy into the system. It so happens that the three skill player superstars when Chip took over were McCoy, DeSean and Maclin. All three incredibly talented players were traded, cut for nothing, and allowed to walk. Cole and Harremans were also locker room leaders who were productive and got released. All together, it does suggest a certain mold Chip is looking for, and he is incredibly rigid on that.

I think it's crazy to say the we can't afford him for a year. $7M should be more than enough for a guard in the later stages of his career. If someone wants to completely outbid us, fine, but we should at least kick the tires. Remember, the trade window has been open for a long time now. 5 million and a late draft pick was too rich for 31 teams. On another note, as people have mentioned before: Chip the GM seems to be killing Chip the coach. He held all the leverage here. Mathis was opting out of voluntary practices, like Bruce Smith used to do. All he had to do to keep Pro Bowl talent was to suck it up, and wait until mandatory practices began.

I'm not sure about that. He was making $5M a year, and from what I hear from Philly radio they expect him to get less than that.

My one worry would be that Mathis is coming from a zone system, but Roman does like to play with guards pulling. I'd say chase him full speed ahead. Overhauled line for the ground and pound!

I guess we'll just have to win so much that no one has time to interview anywhere during the playoffs.

Indeed. Even Joe B said he was the best out of all three.

Strange, I thought Rex was supposed to play a lot of press coverage

I really don't want that to happen. Mostly because Cassel's biggest selling point is that we know what we're paying for. His last couple of years have been pretty dreadful stats wise.