Jordan Matthews: 'We Don't Put Labels On Stuff, We're A Team'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Jordan Matthews is getting ready to begin just his second NFL season, but the 22-year-old Eagles wide receiver is already being deemed the team's number one pass catcher.
"I look at it differently because we're a different type of organization," Matthews told Howard Eskin and the 94WIP Morning Show on Tuesday. "I played at a college where it was more west coast, where we ran the same offense kind of the [San Francisco] 49ers ran. Usually the "Z" was considered the number one receiver. I would never like to talk in that type of language, but that's just what it is.
Listen: Jordan Matthews on the 94WIP Morning Show
"In all honesty, the type of offense we play in is very dynamic," Matthews continued. "It's a lot of weapons out there, so you can't really say, 'Oh this guy is this option, this guy is this option.' I mean, if you go look at a depth chart, I think of our best players on the whole offense most people think he's a number three running back. I doubt that Darren Sproles is a quote-unquote number three running back."
Matthews played all 16 games as a rookie, catching 67 passes for 872 yards and eight touchdowns. The former Vanderbilt standout was among the top-five NFL rookies in all three of those categories.
"We don't have to put labels on stuff," Matthews said humbly. "We just have to go out there and work our butts off and be the best guys we can be. Like, when I go each day into work and compete, I compete as if I want to be the best receiver in the NFL regardless. We're all teammates. That's what we want to be. We want to be a room of comradery where everyone just comes in, works, doesn't put labels on anything. We're just gonna go out and play as a team and I feel like that's gonna set us up for success in the end. Not just one guy thinking he's the guy."
After losing their 2014 leading receiver in Jeremy Maclin to free-agency, the Eagles drafted WR Nelson Agholor with their 20th overall selection in the 2015 NFL draft pairing him with Matthews.
Matthews raved about his new teammate when asked which newcomer has impressed him the most.
"You hear a lot of great things, but then we you actually get him on the field and see what type of guy he is, you're like OK this kid gets it," Matthews said of Agholor. "Instead of taking the regular rookie shuttle, he takes a taxi to get here early to the facility. That's a kid that gets it.
"He's been really aggressive with his studies. He's always hitting me up, if he needs like signals. If he needs information, he calls me whenever and then we're able to talk over it. And we haven't even gotten to how he is on the field. This kid is explosive."
So how does he look on the field?
"I'm not gonna ruin it for anybody," Matthews said. "I just want everybody to see how talented he is."
