Jordan Matthews, WR Philadelphia Eagles Rookie Fantasy Spotlight
Jordan Matthews, WR Philadelphia Eagles Rookie Fantasy Spotlight
Byron Lambert, Rosterwatch.com
Now officially ready for Sunday Football this season! Do it to em @jmattjmattjmatt! @VandyFootball @Eagles pic.twitter.com/xdtWJHQaoG
— Tony Kemp (@tonykemp6) June 13, 2014
Anytime there is a mention of Jerry Rice, our ears perk up here at RosterWatch.
It’s part of the reason we were excited to scout Jordan Matthews at the Senior Bowl. Not only did he have a spectacular career at Vanderbilt, but like a great thoroughbred, he comes from champion bloodlines. He’s a distant relative, mind you, but any receiver prospect who might even have a speck of Jerry Rice genetics flowing through his veins gets our attention.
We certainly were not disappointed. Matthews had a nice week at the Senior Bowl, where he shined as a red-zone target and possession receiver. It occurred to us that maybe the apple didn’t really fall too far from the tree, when we found out he made his own ice baths every night in his room at the player’s hotel to aid in his recovery periods – a trick he picked up at Vandy where he took time to do the same daily. We also learned that Matthews “made special arrangments” to have Vanderbilt training staff open the practice field before sunrise so that he could catch balls from the jugs machine before any of his teammates had even gotten out of bed yet. Most evidently, Matthews – during both Combine and Senior Bowl drills – pulled the old Jerry Rice “score on every rep” trick where Matthews would run the length of the field every time he touched the ball in practice to end the rep in the end zone. Jerry Rice was known to say that this practice habit translated to real-life touchdowns – and who could doubt him?
BOTTOM LINE: Matthews truly has a meticulous training regimen, reminiscent of Rice.
Jordan Matthews has looked sick through mini-camp. There are mouths to feed but a lot of production to go around in Philly, and we know Chip Kelly wanted a big rookie target. Matthews is sneaky fast – running 4.4 at combine and circumstances vault him up our rookie fantasy rankings. Matthews is a must-own in Dynasty and a solid late-round WR4/5 prospect in redraft leagues. We wouldn’t be shocked to see a rookie campaign resulting in 60 catches, 800 yards and 6-8 touchdowns.
