A contract dispute finally led to the Philadelphia Eagles electing to part ways with former All-Pro guard Evan Mathis on Thursday.
Mathis had been holding out of offseason workouts in hopes of getting a new contract with the Eagles. Instead, Mathis is now a free agent.
Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins joined Alex Marvez and Mark Dominik on Sirius XM NFL Radio on Thursday and said the team is just focusing on players that want to be in Philadelphia.
“It’s one of those things where everybody is really just focused on the guys in the building,” Jenkins said. “I think we’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys stepping in now on the offensive line and obviously with all the (running) backs we’ve acquired, we’re really excited about that.
“It’s one of those things. We love Evan, but right now we’re worried about the guys that want to be here. The guys that are in the locker room that are here every day grinding. The last couple months (we’ve) had probably 99 percent of our team here in Philly getting after it and so that’s exciting. I can understand not wanting the distraction of someone who may or may not want to be here. It’s just one of those things that we try not to focus on.”
Mathis no longer wanted to be in Philadelphia and now he isn’t. The rest of the Eagles roster can now stop wondering about Mathis’ status with the team and can move forward into training camp.
