When Eagles RB Ryan Mathews got playing time last season, he was very good. He carried the ball 106 times for 539 yards (5.1 YPC) and 6 TDs, which made him the most productive runner on the team. We stress that he was a good "runner."
Mathews is not a great fit for Doug Pederson's offense. Pederson has said that he wants to be able to move his backs around to create mismatches for opposing defenses in the passing game. That is not at all a strength of Mathews'.
Mathews has caught 78.3% of his career targets, which is good for 11th among 102 running backs with at least 100 catches since 2006. His hands are fine. Where he may be lacking is gaining yards after the catch. His Y/R (7.57) is mediocre. He's by far he best running back on the team at this point and we like his value in the 5th or 6th round. In the 24 games over the past three seasons where Mathews has at least 10 carries, he has averaged 87 total yards and 0.50 TD, or 13.4 PPR points per game. Those are solid RB1 numbers.
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