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The Philadelphia Eagles are reportedly shopping two-time Pro Bowl guard Evan Mathis via trade, and the Buffalo Bills are rumored to be one of the teams interested.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network had the initial report on Thursday afternoon, with Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News corroborating...
The #Eagles are working to trade G Evan Mathis, source said. More craziness.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 12, 2015
... and Mathis, one of the most prolifically hilarious professional athletes active on social media, responded in kind.
The Miami Dolphins have been the team most frequently discussed with Mathis in the ensuing 20 hours, but Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com included the Bills, plus three more teams, as those showing interest in Mathis.
Hearing the Fins, Bills, Rams, Vikings and possibly even Saints sniffing around on Evan Mathis, who Eagles are willing to move...
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) March 12, 2015
Mathis, who will turn 34 this November, has made the Pro Bowl in each of the past two seasons, and was a first team All Pro in 2013, as well. A long-standing favorite of websites like Pro Football Focus, Mathis would be a tremendous upgrade for line-needy teams like the Bills, but there are concerns: namely, a knee injury that cost him seven games in 2014 (although he played well after returning to the lineup), and fairly large cap hits of $6.5 million in 2015 (dropping to $4.5 million for any team acquiring him) and $7 million in 2016.
Time will tell if the Bills have more than just a passing interest in Mathis, or if they have the trade ammo and cap space to pull something like this off. (Or, while we're at it, whether or not Chip Kelly is sufficiently agitated by his belief that the Bills leaked the LeSean McCoy for Kiko Alonso trade last week that he'd even listen to offers from Buffalo.) For now, the Bills' top priority very clearly remains their pursuit of free agent tight end Charles Clay.