At this point last year, guard Evan Mathis was a member of the Eagles who wanted to rework his contract with the team.
Former Eagles coach Chip Kelly didn’t share that opinion, which led to Mathis getting released and eventually landing with the Broncos on a one-year deal. Mathis got a Super Bowl ring out of the experience while Kelly added the “former” to his job title in Philadelphia.
In an email exchange with Mike Klis of 9News in Denver, Mathis did what those who end up on the better end of the stick have been doing since the dawn of time while explaining his thoughts on why Kelly fell short in Philly.
“There were many things that Chip had done that showed me he wasn’t building a championship team,” Mathis wrote. “Two of the main issues that concerned me were: 1. A never-evolving, vanilla offense that forced our own defense to play higher than normal play counts. 2. His impatience with certain personality types even when they were blue-chip talents. The Broncos team I was on would have eaten Chip alive. I don’t think he could have handled the plethora of large personalities.”
Mathis added that he hopes Kelly learns from the experience and “takes some constructive criticism from this” with him to his new job with the 49ers.
Mathis may be going to a new team as well as he’s set for free agency. He is set for ankle surgery and says he hasn’t decided whether he’ll play next season, but plans to prepare like he’ll be back and that he’d be happy to be back in Denver.
It’s probably safe to assume that playing home games where he won the Lombardi Trophy is out for the near future, however.