After Eagles guard Evan Mathis was released last week, some wondered why the Eagles didn’t trade Mathis before letting him go without any compensation.
Eagles coach Chip Kelly said Tuesday that the team waited as long as possible before making that move in hopes of dealing Mathis, something that may explain what was going on behind the scenes between the news of Mathis’s release breaking on Thursday and official confirmation of it waiting until Friday. Kelly also said that Mathis asked for his release several times and that the team granted that request because they weren’t going to give him any more money and that they didn’t want Mathis on the team if he didn’t want to be there.