Eagles' Jason Peters OK without righthand man

IT DIDN'T sound as if Jason Peters was going to be contributing any of the $8 million or so he is scheduled to earn this year to a Kickstarter campaign aimed at getting Evan Mathis back in the fold.

"Not really," Peters said, when asked if it mattered to him whether Mathis lines up next to him at left guard this season. Peters, the Eagles' seven-time Pro Bowl left tackle, noted he has played alongside quite a few left guards over the years.

"It's Al, right now," Peters said, indicating Allen Barbre, who has subbed for Mathis while the two-time Pro Bowler sits out OTAs, Mathis unhappy with his contract. "Right now, if we had to play, Al would be the starter."

Peters also said the Eagles "have a group of guys out there putting in work who have been here since April." Obviously, that group does not include Mathis, who is scheduled to make $5.5 million this season and $6 million in 2016, the final two seasons of the deal he signed in 2012.

So far, Mathis has missed only optional workouts, but next week comes 3 days of mandatory minicamp, which Mathis can be fined for missing.

The Mathis saga took a twist late yesterday afternoon when Pro Football Talk cited a "source with knowledge of the situation" contending that the Eagles offered last year to bump Mathis' pay by $1 million a year, but Mathis turned it down. The story said Mathis then wanted to take the offer this year, but was told it was no longer available, in the wake of the front-office power shift from Howie Roseman to Chip Kelly.

Daily News sources indicated an offer indeed was made. Whether it was turned down or the matter was tabled until after the 2014 season seems to be a matter of which side you believe.

In any event, the Eagles have not offered Mathis, 33, any kind of boost this offseason, and for the second year in a row they have allowed agent Drew Rosenhaus to seek a trade for Mathis, to no avail. Rosenhaus thought he had a team ready to deal for Mathis around the time of the draft, but that team filled its need in the draft, according to league sources and various reports.

Kelly said yesterday he does not discuss contracts. He said he has not spoken with Mathis, doesn't know if Mathis will attend minicamp. When a questioner pointed out that at some point, the team will need to know whether Mathis is going to be here, Kelly said: "We'll just take it as it comes."

Cary Williams, the corner who thought the postgame locker room after the Eagles' third successive win to start the 2014 season was a great place to vent about how Chip Kelly was practicing the Eagles too hard, still disagrees with Kelly's approach.

Shocking, yes. Of course, it's possible someday we'll look back and agree one reason Kelly didn't succeed here was that his practice pace wore out some of his players, but evidence for that right now is scant, with a 20-12 record in two seasons.

Williams, cut by the Eagles this offseason and signed by Seattle, spoke to ESPN 710-AM there and made unflattering comparisons between the two operations. He recalled the Eagles' 24-14 home loss to Seattle on Dec. 7, which started the three-game slide that ruined their playoff chances.

"We was talking about the fact that our conditioning and things like was going to kick in because we worked harder than everybody in the National Football League with the Chip Kelly thing," he said. "We got out there, we got our teeth kicked in. So all that conditioning didn't necessarily work. Preparation wasn't necessarily the greatest neither that week. When you're going up against teams that prepare well, practice well, coach well, it's difficult in games like that. I think towards the end of the year we were exhausted and we got outcoached the majority of the games."

Williams called Kelly "a great coach," but said "what's going on there isn't necessarily the right way of doing things."

Strong day for Mark Sanchez, who lofted a perfect deep ball down the middle that Riley Cooper caught for a TD against Byron Maxwell, then hit Seyi Ajirotutu on a similar play, against second-round rookie Eric Rowe . . . Collisions are scary in these no-pads drills, so attention sharpened when Mychal Kendricks and Jordan Matthews ran hard into one another chasing a tipped pass and got up slowly, but both returned to practice. Ditto DeMarco Murray, attended to by trainers after taking a hit in the privates . . . Fletcher Cox returned after missing Monday. Chip Kelly said Darren Sproles has been attending a family matter the past 2 days and will return today.

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian