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Evan Mathis: Chip Kelly Couldn't Handle Big Personalities

Sons Of Shula

Sons Of Shula

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By Mike Klis


Make no mistake, Mathis is a man who prefers the road less traveled. This is a guy who last August turned down a one-year $5.5 million deal to play for the Miami Dolphins and instead accepted a one-year, $4 million package to play for Denver. One reason, and only one reason, Denver trumped $1.5 million: He thought the Broncos with Peyton Manning had a better chance to win it all than did the Dolphins.

The Dolphins finished 6-10. The Broncos finished with a February parade that drew an estimated crowd of 1 million.

Before Mathis encountered his decision between the Dolphins and Broncos, he first needed Philadelphia coach Chip Kelly to release him from his Eagles contract. Kelly was not willing to rework Mathis’ contract, as the previous Eagles’ regime had.

Most players would use their agent to handle such a task. Mathis directly texted Kelly with a YouTube video of Engelbert Humperdink singing, “Please release me, let me go. …’’

Beautiful.

Mathis also stated via e-mail that Kelly is not the type of coach who could have handled the 2015 Broncos’ contingent of outsized characters.

“There were many things that Chip had done that showed me he wasn’t building a championship team,” Mathis wrote in his e-mail to 9NEWS. “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 then provided a timeline of his 2015 season. In his words:

March 23rd: A report came out that the Eagles would release me if they couldn’t trade me.

March 25th: I sent Chip a text with this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOcW9gZv68A

June 11th: Chip Kelly calls me to tell me they are releasing me to see if I can get what I want. I replied, “Are you sure you want to do that?”

June 15th: Rosenhaus sends me a list of the teams that expressed interest in me:Falcons, Dolphins, Vikings, Patriots, Giants, Jets, 49ers, Seahawks, Titans, Redskins. Of that list, I was most excited about Patriots and Seahawks.

July: Weirdly enough, I had a dream that John Elway called me.

2nd week of August: Broncos reach out to Rosenhaus and jump in the mix with an offer.

August 20th: Remaining interested teams are Dolphins, Broncos, Seahawks. I get a text from Peyton Manning. It seems he was assigned as my recruiting host. I thought that was pretty cool.

August 21st: Colts inquire about what it would take to sign me.

August 22nd: I take a visit to Seattle for physicals and meetings.

August 24th: Seattle bows out.

August 25th: I decide I need to make my decision on this day and it comes down to an aggressive Mike Tannenbaum of the Dolphins offering 5.5 million after incentives or the Broncos offering their original offer of 4 million after incentives. Denver didn’t bring their offer up after hearing Miami’s offer.

Denver says I have to be there that night so I pack up quickly and hop on a flight.
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Like the aggressive nature of Tannebaum. That's what I take from the article.
 
At least tanny gave it a good shot. We certainly could have used Mathis but obviously money wasn't his biggest concern.
 
I posted the first part of that SOS in another thread and found it interesting the reasons why he did not think Chip Kelly would win..sounded very familiar to the Dolphins situation with the vanilla offense and the personalities of players vs. coach.
 
The bottom line is Mathis gambled on himself and it backfired horribly, and rather than look like a complete idiot by signing a contract for less than what he would have made with the Eagles anyway he took even less to make himself look good by "making the smart decision" in playing for a contender.

He exaggerated what the Broncos offered, which is stupid because any fruitloop with an internet connection can freely look that up, so he probably exaggerated all of the numbers his camp is floating out there.
 
Best point of this post is Mr. T was aggressive and once again, it was obvious that he was calling the shots.

I have criticized Tannenbaum that he did not fix the guard position, but it sure seems like he made a bid at it.
 
roy_miami said:
The bottom line is Mathis gambled on himself and it backfired horribly, and rather than look like a complete idiot by signing a contract for less than what he would have made with the Eagles anyway he took even less to make himself look good by "making the smart decision" in playing for a contender. He exaggerated what the Broncos offered, which is stupid because any fruitloop with an internet connection can freely look that up, so he probably exaggerated all of the numbers his camp is floating out there.
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wtf are you talking about backfired? He made less money and won a Super Bowl what idiot would choose more money and no super bowl?
 
Any moves that could have prolonged Philbin's tenure would have been a detriment. We should be thankful Mathis turned us down.
 
utahphinsfan said:
Wasn't Saban The same way? Couldn't deal w/ 25 yo millionaires but has no problem w/ 18 yo's from the backwoods?
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Exactly my thought . Some guys flourish where there's nobody to share the stage with and can't function when they have to earn respect and buy in. Saban's a prime example. Amazing coach but only where he is the sole ego in the room.
 
My biggest takeaway from this is that if he plays another season, we should make a strong push to sign him. We would clearly be in the mix. If we can't land the top target of Osemele he should be second choice.
 
Philbin was such bad news that an OG, on the downward trajectory of his career would pass up $1.5mm cash in hand, than to tie his wagon to someone reminding him of the HC he came to hate.
 
Fin Thirteen said:
Exactly my thought . Some guys flourish where there's nobody to share the stage with and can't function when they have to earn respect and buy in. Saban's a prime example. Amazing coach but only where he is the sole ego in the room.
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Concur. For the most part, I have gotten over Nick & his decision making process. I still have a hard time w/ his questioning Zach Thomas's manhood.
 
utahphinsfan said:
Wasn't Saban The same way? Couldn't deal w/ 25 yo millionaires but has no problem w/ 18 yo's from the backwoods?
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Saban's issue was more with the media than it was with the players. Most people who played for Saban said he was a hardass but they didn't hate him.
 
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