The league’s annual meetings have a way of generating information that previously existed but hadn’t been leaked.
Regarding Eagles guard Evan Mathis, for example, news of a possible trade first surfaced on Wednesday. Per a league source, however, the team gave Mathis permission to seek a trade weeks ago, after Mathis requested a new contract and the team opted not to give him one.
To date, no serious suitors have been found. But Mathis isn’t being shopped because the Eagles want to move on; Mathis is being shopped because he wants a raise that the Eagles don’t want to give him. If Mathis can’t find someone who will, the only alternative will be to return to the Eagles at $5.15 million for 2014.