About 24 hours after the Cardinals added pass rusher Chandler Jones for guard Jonathan Cooper and a second round pick, the Cardinals re-bolstered their depth at the offensive guard position by inking veteran Evan Mathis on Wednesday. The agreement was made on a reported one year deal worth six million dollars.
The 11-year vet is 6-5, 301 pounds coming off a Suber Bowl winning season with the Denver Broncos in 2015-16. He is a two-time Pro Bowl selection and was originally drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the third round in 2005.
Overall, Mathis has played in 130 career games (90 starts) and five postseason contests over the past 11 suiting up with the aforementioned Panthers and Broncos as well as Miami, Cincinnati and Philadelphia. With the Eagles is where he cemented himself as an all-pro performer as he started all 56 games in his four seasons in Phily, earning All-Pro first-team honors in 2013.
The Cardinals even before the trade of Cooper was still unsure of what they were going to do to improve the right side of their offensive line. Since the league year began, the whole starting right side of their line from last year had been in question after Bobby Massie signed with the Bears and then Jonathan Cooper had been traded. Ted Larsen is still unsigned as an unrestricted free agent as well. The Cardinals made headway in filling these questions in bringing Mathis and it will remain to be seen if the team decides to run with last year’s first round pick D.J. Humphries or if another right tackle will be brought in.
General Manager Steve Keim has made a living on these one-year deals having had success doing so with veteran talent like Karlos Dansby, Chris Johnson, Dwight Freeney and others. Mathis, who has been a valley resident for over a decade, has all the makings to be the latest “Keim special.”
Jared Cohen
