Evan Mathis visit to Seattle just a ploy

Since he was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles, Evan Mathis has been one of the most sought after free agents on the market.

At 33 years old, Mathis doesn’t need to jump into just any situation. He can bide his time and find a team desperate enough to willingly give him his $5.5 million to $8 million contract.

But time isn’t completely on his side, which is why Adam Schefter reports that Mathis may visit with the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday.

Well, that’s the end of that then, right? The Dolphins sat on their hands for too long and Mathis is exploring other, better opportunities. Not so fast, my friend.

Seattle doesn’t have the cap space to sign Mathis to what he wants. The Seahawks have about $4.9 million in cap room, according to overthecap.com.

So there’s the rub, Mathis may not bother making the trip to Seattle because they simply cannot offer him what he wants.

The Seahawks could play around with their roster to fit Mathis in or he could take a tremendous pay cut to go to a team that’s made the last two Super Bowls. But they still have to deal with Kam Chancellor wanting his contract addressed before the season starts.

Therefore, this is all just a smokescreen to get the real suitors to pay up.

Think about it, most of the reports concerning teams interested in Mathis have ended with the same notion that his price tag is too much.

Like Seattle, the New York Jets don’t have much cap room to sign the former Pro Bowl guard, as they have just over $5.4 million to utilize. They’ve been reportedly scared off by his potential salary.

Miami has the cap space, but they need as much of it to roll over to next year as possible. That’s also the case for a few other teams.

But some clubs have the flexibility to out spend the Dolphins now and not have to worry about their cap situation next season.

The Colts, Chiefs, 49ers, Bengals, Packers and a few others have the space this season and next to fit Mathis in under the cap.

Those five teams listed have fared better than Miami in the past and have more money to spend. However, only a few have expressed interest. The Colts, Packers, Bengals, and Chiefs have said they weren’t pursuing him or have been flat out silent on the subject.

However, the 49ers are interested and considering an offer.

This is where the report of going to Seattle (or not) works beautifully as a power move. It’s designed to scare one of the potentially biggest spenders, the Niners, to death. San Francisco may want to sign Mathis but, more importantly, they don’t want Seattle to get any better.

The ploy also works to get the other interested teams, like the Giants and Raiders, motivated to make a bid as well.

The Dolphins don’t need to make that offer. They have plenty of options to explore rather than continue to make shortsighted moves under the guise of “going for it” for this season.

Miami can’t get swept up in an arms race with teams with more cap flexibility. Let Mathis squeeze every penny out of another team.