The Sports Xchange

PHILADELPHIA – Head coach Chip Kelly said he released Pro-Bowl guard Evan Mathis last week because Mathis had made it clear he no longer wanted to play for the Philadelphia Eagles.

“We were asked by his agent (Drew Rosenhaus) for a release on multiple occasions,” Kelly said. “So we weren’t going to come to a conclusion in terms of a contract extension. We weren’t going to extend his contract or adjust his contract, so we granted him what his agent asked for.”

Mathis acknowledged Tuesday that Rosenhaus mentioned to the Eagles the possibility of releasing him in March. Even though he had skipped all of the team’s voluntary OTAs, he said he planned to attend this week’s mandatory minicamp and would play for the team this year. He said he even tried to contact Kelly last month to let him know that. Kelly said he had no assurances by Rosenhaus or Mathis that he would have honored his contract, which had two years left on it at $5.5 million this year and $6.5 million next year.

Said Kelly: “They obviously wanted a new contract and we weren’t going to give them a new contract. They asked for the release, so we released him.”

Mathis said he would have been fine with getting released in March when teams still had plenty of salary-cap room. Now, not so much.

“If he was so willing to oblige my release, why didn’t he sign or draft any O-linemen?” Mathis said.

–Quarterback Sam Bradford participated in 7-on-7 work in Tuesday’s minicamp practice, but continued to be held out of 11-on-11 work. That will be the case for the final two days of minicamp, but Bradford said he expects to be a full practice participant when the Eagles open training camp on Aug. 2.

–With the release of Mathis and the March release of Todd Herremans, the Eagles will have two new starting guards on their offensive line. Allen Barbre, who has only eight career starts, will replace Mathis at left guard. Matt Tobin, Andrew Gardner and Dennis Kelly will compete for the starting right guard job.

“I think Allen is an outstanding football player,” Kelly said. “He just got hurt at the beginning of last year. But whenever he’s had to play for us, he’s played extremely well for us. We’re excited about going forward with him. And then we’ll see what happens at the other (guard) position.”