Patriots sign WR Jordan Matthews to a 1 Year Deal

[oceansizer]

Face your fears head on. I want a Stanford safety.

If we are talking about Justin Reid I do not mind. But no more Richards mistakes anymore

 

[supafly]

I’ve had discussions with a couple/few members over the past few days regarding Matthews’ potential value here, and the best guess I could come up with was a very generic 4–4.5m deal (or more specifically, a one year deal worth UP TO 4–4.5m dollars).

The fairly reputable contract salary site Sportrac recently projected a longer term deal for Matthews about a month ago, and that was at 8.8m dollars a year AAV, or about 4/35. While I certainly don’t see him getting anything like that here (Again, I’m guessing about half of that on his one year deal—around 4m—4.5m or so), I do think that we’ll be pleasantly happy with the money and that Matthews will be firmly in the mix for a roster spot. Any concerns seem to have been due to his injuries and if Belichick had him in for a workout and then offered him a deal, I’m going to assume that he was healed enough to the liking of the coaches.

Hopefully, Miguel will have the numbers for us later on in the day as he and Boston Sports Journal are obviously the go-to sources for all things Pats cap related, but in the meantime I thought that the recent projections from Sportrac were interesting, nonetheless. Let’s remember that Danny Amendola just brought in a 6m dollar AAV pact, so it’s possible that Sportrac would’ve been somewhere in the ballpark (Kenny Stills 4/32, etc) had Matthews been offered a longer term deal. I stumbled across this projection from a simple google search that took me to a Bills forum. They then cited the Sportstrac article below:

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Jordan Matthews free agent contract projection

 

[primetime]

Who’s been pretty bad his whole career? Matthews?
Through the first 3 years he averaged 75 catches, about 900 yards, and 6 touchdowns per season.

Unfortunately for him, he had a down year last year playing injured and missing 6 games with multiple injuries in Buffalo’s offense with Tyrod Taylor as his QB.

Counting stats, great. He put up big numbers because he was basically the only option in a Chip Kelly offense that ran substantially more plays than any other team. A lot of those stats came during garbage time. He drops a lot of footballs and a very good coach dumped him for whatever he could get last year.

 

[supafly]

He drops a lot of footballs and a very good coach dumped him for whatever he could get last year.

Yeah, I dunno. I’ll certainly take your word for it due to your solid past history with me, but he’s posted catch rates of 70 and 63 percent, the past two seasons. I don’t think that’s necessarily suggestive of anything all that out of the ordinary.

In 2017 and 2016 combined, he dropped a total of 10 balls. For comparison’s sake, Edelman dropped almost that (8) just in 2016, alone. Is it possible that some of this “drops a lot of balls” label may be slightly overblown a bit? I mean, I’m not disputing the notion that he’s dropped some passes, but I’m wondering if this idea isn’t getting thrown around a bit too much.

Jordan Matthews - Player Profile Advanced Stats, Metrics & Analytics

 

[supafly]

A bit of a more in depth look at Mathews and how he was used in the past.

It appears as though his drop rate for 2016 was 6 percent, which translated to #27th in the league. The article notes this as a reason for some of his decline for stats that year, although he was seeing more outside targets and only saw a little more than 1/3 of his reps from the slot, due to Pederson’s wishes. This could be a reason as to why he was traded, as he only moved inside during 3 WR sets.

Jordan Matthews advanced stats & metrics indicate fantasy football sleeper

 

[Snooky97]

Great signing for us! Another possible RZ Threat as well

 

[FoxboroFlyer]

Flashes? 225 catches in his first 3 seasons is a bit more than flashes IMO.

Just trying to be realistic in expectations. The guy also drops alot of passes...something I'm sure will drive many here nuts, if he makes the roster. Not to mention knee and ankle issues. I'm pulling for the guy, and like the signing. But I don't see it as a slam dunk pick up.

 

[DarrylS]

Can be viewed several ways...

1. WTF is BB doing on drafting an often injured WR, who had a significant fall off last year for the lowly Bills?? Senility?? Has the game passed BB by?? Is BB out of touch with the NFL??
2. The Patriots stole a 2nd draft pick that was playing with a crappy quarterback who turned into an all pro on this team.
3. They will cut him in OTA's for some unknown reason.

 

[maineman209]

My fraternity brother is an eagles fan and said that he drops a lot of passe, but a helluva receiver.

Matthews dropped passes as % of tgts:

2017 = 2 of 36, 5.6%
... Cooks = 4 of 114, 3.5% ... Amendola = 4 of 86, 4.7%

2016 = 6 of 117 tgts, 5.1%
... Edelman = 5 of 159, 3.1% ... Bennett = 2 of 73, 2.7%

2015 = 5 of 126 tgts, 3.9%
... Edelman = 8 of 88 tgts, 9.1% ... Lewis = 4 of 50 tgts, 8.0%

2014 = 6 of 103 tgts, 5.8%
... Edelman = 8 of 134, 6.0% ... Gronk = 7 of 131, 5.3%

So, "a lot of drops" seems to be a relative thing that can change from season-to-season. Also worth noting that other pass-catchers with the Eagles in 2014-2016 sometimes had higher drop rates than Matthews, sometimes lower.

 

[RobertWeathers]

He's been pretty bad his whole career but I guess we're in full spin mode again at Patsfans dot com because the Patriots threw a dart at a guy who may or may not make the team.

I don't think you are aware of what he did in Philly.

 

[luuked]

I’ve had discussions with a couple/few members over the past few days regarding Matthews’ potential value here, and the best guess I could come up with was a very generic 4–4.5m deal (or more specifically, a one year deal worth UP TO 4–4.5m dollars).

The fairly reputable contract salary site Sportrac recently projected a longer term deal for Matthews about a month ago, and that was at 8.8m dollars a year AAV, or about 4/35. While I certainly don’t see him getting anything like that here (Again, I’m guessing about half of that on his one year deal—around 4m—4.5m or so), I do think that we’ll be pleasantly happy with the money and that Matthews will be firmly in the mix for a roster spot. Any concerns seem to have been due to his injuries and if Belichick had him in for a workout and then offered him a deal, I’m going to assume that he was healed enough to the liking of the coaches.

Hopefully, Miguel will have the numbers for us later on in the day as he and Boston Sports Journal are obviously the go-to sources for all things Pats cap related, but in the meantime I thought that the recent projections from Sportrac were interesting, nonetheless. Let’s remember that Danny Amendola just brought in a 6m dollar AAV pact, so it’s possible that Sportrac would’ve been somewhere in the ballpark (Kenny Stills 4/32, etc) had Matthews been offered a longer term deal. I stumbled across this projection from a simple google search that took me to a Bills forum. They then cited the Sportstrac article below:

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Jordan Matthews free agent contract projection

I would assume that whatever he is getting will be less than Edelman. Thats usually how it works here with salaries. You wont get paid more than the primary option.

 

[maineman209]

Lot of one-year deals this year. Should be an interesting camp.

Nine WRs on the roster at the moment.

Only three are signed past the end of 2018 - Edelman, Mitchell and Dorsett.

EDIT: I stand corrected. I had Dorsett's contract listed incorrectly on my roster spreadsheet. Dorsett is UFA at the end of 2018 unless the Pats pick up his 5th-year option (by May 3rd) for an amount something in excess of Cooks' option of $8.5M (highly unlikely).

 

[maineman209]

He is alot slower than Cooks

Everybody but Dorsett is a lot slower than Cooks.

 

[maineman209]

I’ve got a feeling that more crazy moves will happen.

Earlier, I was talking about Mathews. I’m hopeful that he can make it a 1200 yard season. My theory is that if you can get 800 yards in buffalo then you might get more here hopefully. I was wrong about hogan tho. Thought his stats were better here than there

Matthews had 282 yards in Buffalo, but was hampered by knee and ankle issues that landed him on IR and in surgery after 10 games.

 

[Soliel]

Matthews had 282 yards in Buffalo, but was hampered by knee and ankle issues that landed him on IR and in surgery after 10 games.

Ok. I thought that in a different year he got 800.



2016
PHI
73
804
11.0
3

Career

 

[Kontradiction]

This could be a sneaky good signing for the team as Matthews is a good route runner. However, he has to get his hands in order. If he drops balls at a high rate here, Brady will lose confidence in him and eventually look away on the money downs.

 

[PP2]

Can be viewed several ways...

1. WTF is BB doing on drafting an often injured WR, who had a significant fall off last year for the lowly Bills?? Senility?? Has the game passed BB by?? Is BB out of touch with the NFL??
2. The Patriots stole a 2nd draft pick that was playing with a crappy quarterback who turned into an all pro on this team.
3. They will cut him in OTA's for some unknown reason.

He will be given a chance to compete in TC. If he can't keep up, he gets cut with no repercussion to the cap.

That is a win/win scenario for us.

 

[Bruins29]

He's been pretty bad his whole career but I guess we're in full spin mode again at Patsfans dot com because the Patriots threw a dart at a guy who may or may not make the team.

Yes people are in full "spin mode" because the posters here are somewhat optimistic that a guy who put up 19 TDs, 2700 yards and caught 225 balls his first three years in the league could maybe come here and be decent.

Not only that but he is entering his prime AND he really only has to be a better option than Britt/Dorsett to a a 4th option. His potential is certainly higher though.

 

[Kontradiction]

Yes people are in full "spin mode" because the posters here are somewhat optimistic that a guy who put up 19 TDs, 2700 yards and caught 225 balls his first three years in the league could maybe come here and be decent.

Not only that but he is entering his prime AND he really only has to be a better option than Britt/Dorsett to a a 4th option. His potential is certainly higher though.

Yeah, he should be a pretty clear-cut improvement to what Britt offers the team.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Who’s been pretty bad his whole career? Matthews?
Through the first 3 years he averaged 75 catches, about 900 yards, and 6 touchdowns per season.

Unfortunately for him, he had a down year last year playing injured and missing 6 games with multiple injuries in Buffalo’s offense with Tyrod Taylor as his QB.

Tyrod Taylor - The Jeff Fisher of QBs for WRs

Marquise Goodwin - ok deep threat sprinter to Jimmy G’s go to guy & a big pay day

Hogan - JAG to solid WR2/WR3

Robert Woods - JAG to one of the more underrated WRs in the league


Have to love the Tyrod defenders out there. He had Watkins & three WR2s in 2015.