Jordan Matthews Fantasy News and Statistics

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Jordan Matthews made the wise decision that allowed him to compete and excel against SEC competition without running into too many issues: he went to Vanderbilt and played for the Commodores.

While in Nashville, Matthews was on some pretty bad Vandy football teams. However, he was able to acquire a top-notch education and get on the field early to help him become an impact college player. Although he did not see the field much early in his college football career, he worked his way up the depth chart as his freshman year progressed. He made five catches for 62 yards and touchdown and seven catches for 74 yards and a score in the final two games of the 2010 season. Since he played for a 2-10 team, that was all he needed to do to establish himself as his team’s No. 1 wide receiver.

His sophomore year was highlighted by three 100-yard performances in a row against Arkansas, Florida and Kentucky. And in the final two years of his college career, he became a well-known standout player nationally. More often than not, he would record 100 receiving yards and have a touchdown catch. In his final two years, he had exactly 2,800 combined receiving yards and was named First-Team All-American his senior season. He finished out his college football career strong with a five-catch, 143-yard, two-touchdown performance in the BBVA Compass Bowl against Houston. Thanks to a standout career, he was selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Since he was a high pick and the Eagles had an air-raid offense under Chip Kelly his rookie year, he was able to emerge as the team’s No. 2 receiver behind Jeremy Maclin and get targeted over 100 times. On three occasions, he had over 100 receiving yards; on the season, he caught 67 balls for 872 yards and eight touchdowns.

More familiar with his team’s offense in his second go-around, Matthews benefited from Maclin’s departure and the pickup of quarterback Sam Bradford. Those two factors helped Matthews gain 997 receiving yards on the season. In 2016, however, he took a minor step back due to Carson Wentz’s struggles under center and an injury that forced him to miss a pair of games. Even so, he still had over 800 receiving yards on 73 catches.

Although he had 1,000-yard receiving potential with second-year quarterback Wentz under center, the Eagles decided to go out and grab both Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith to fill the wide receiver slots. During preseason camp in 2017, they then dealt Matthews and a 2018 third-round pick to the Bills for defensive back Ronald Darby.

Surely, Matthews has a chance to put up some solid numbers in this Bills offense, as there is not much depth at the receiver position. However, Buffalo threw just 51.4 percent of the time in 2016, which was an AFC low. In contrast, the Eagles threw 59.4 percent of the time (No. 16 out of 32 NFL teams). Regardless, Matthews had three strong seasons in Philadelphia, so he will get his reps in Buffalo.