In March, we reported that Eagles guard Evan Mathis was given permission by the Eagles to seek a trade this offseason because the team wasn’t willing to give him the new contract that he craved.
That led to some speculation that Mathis would stay away from the team’s voluntary workouts, but he reported this week along with his teammates. On Thursday, he addressed the situation with reporters by saying he wasn’t going to talk about his contract and referencing former Eagle Terrell Owens.
“If I’m going to answer any contract questions I’d prefer to do it from the comfort of my driveway, while I’m doing a Richard Simmons-type workout,” Mathis said, via CSNPhilly.com. “Maybe some sit-ups and some curls or something.”
Mathis, who said he believes he’s the best left guard in the league, also said that he won’t be holding out of any mandatory activities later in the year in hopes of pressing the contract issue further. He added that he won’t let the contract issue become a distraction.
“A distraction? No,” Mathis said. “I mean, I’m not going to let anything distract me from my job, which is to play football. And I can handle anything you guys (reporters) throw at me. So that’s not going to distract me. If you want to keep asking questions, I’m here to answer them. So it doesn’t really bother me, and if people want to keep tweeting to me I’m right there. I’m wide open. I’m easy to get to, so it’s not going to be a distraction.”
After getting the chance to shop himself and finding no takers, Mathis doesn’t have much choice beyond doing his job as well as he’s done it the last few seasons and hoping for a better result in the future. In the meantime, he’ll have to be content with the $5.15 million he’ll make for the 2014 season.