Eagles Notes: Kelly says no offers for Mathis

Chip Kelly said that the Eagles have yet to receive trade offers for Evan Mathis, even though the all-pro guard has been on the market the last two offseasons.

Mathis wants his contract restructured. The Eagles have declined to renegotiate, but they have allowed his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to shop for a new team and a new deal.

"That's through his agent and him," Kelly said Saturday. "They've asked if he could renegotiate a contract and see what he could get, and we've obliged him with that, but we've never had an offer."

Kelly said that he couldn't answer whether Mathis would be back next season.

"That's a question for Evan," he said.

Mathis, who is in Arizona, had no comment. He has not attended voluntary workouts at the NovaCare Complex over the last two weeks. He doesn't have to attend practices until mandatory minicamp in mid-June.

The 33-year-old Mathis is entering the fourth year of a five-year, $25.5 million contract he signed in 2012. He is slated to earn $5.5 million this season.

The Eagles have done little at the offensive line position this offseason other than releasing guard Todd Herremans. Many expected Kelly to address the unit in the draft because of the advanced age of some of the key starters, but he didn't select a single offensive lineman for the second straight year.

Mathis will be 34 in November. Tackle Jason Peters is 33. Allen Barbre, who is penciled in to start in place of Herremans at right guard, is 30. If Mathis is traded or released, Matt Tobin or Andrew Gardner would be the top in-house candidates to replace him at left guard.

Kelly said that Louisiana State offensive lineman La'el Collins, who saw his draft stock drop after Baton Rouge, La., police asked to question him in connection with the death of a woman believed to be his former girlfriend, was not on the Eagles' draft board.

"It wasn't a hard decision," Kelly said. "I don't think we should be talking about draft picks. I think two people have lost their lives, and I think that's a little bit more important than that."

Brittany Mills, 29, was shot to death last week. Her child, Brenton, died one week later. Collins, who was once considered a first-round prospect, delayed meeting with authorities in Louisiana and attended draft festivities in Chicago.

Police said they didn't consider him a suspect, only a person of interest. Collins attempted to withdraw from the draft in the hope he could reenter next year, but the NFL said that he needed to be selected this year - and not sign - for that to be permitted.

Collins was not drafted.

Kelly said that he didn't come close to trading for Dolphins defensive end Dion Jordan, even though the Eagles reportedly offered a conditional late-round draft pick in the proposed deal.

"We weren't close at all to any deal or trade or player talk in terms of dealing with Dion," Kelly said.

Jordan, who was suspended twice last year for violating the league's drug policy, was suspended for all of 2015 after a third violation. Kelly said there was a brief discussion about acquiring his former Oregon player, but it didn't get very far.

"If you guys know how much organizations talk about trading players, it's every day," Kelly said.

Even though the Eagles rescinded their restricted free agent offer to Chris Polk on April 24, Kelly said that he preferred to keep the running back. But Polk, who would have been behind DeMarco Murray, Ryan Matthews, and Darren Sproles, wanted an opportunity to play elsewhere, the coach said.

"We did have a role for him," Kelly said, "but I also think he felt like he wanted see if he could fit in somewhere else because we are a little bit tough at that position."

Polk signed a one-year deal with the Texans last week.