The Facts: There's no truth to the rumor that Mathews was doing cartwheels on the practice field Thursday when he found out the Eagles had traded up to the No. 2 spot in the NFL draft in order to select a quarterback. For Mathews, that meant there is no longer a chance that the Eagles could select Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott at their original spot, eighth overall. And with the Eagles trading DeMarco Murray to Tennessee in March, that would leave Mathews as the clear favorite to be the lead running back this season. "I'm working towards that," Mathews said.

Diehards Line: Mathews admitted that Murray getting traded surprised him. Both insisted that they could share the load. But Murray was a disappointment. By the final five games, Murray had lost his starting job and was in a rotation with Mathews, Darren Sproles and Kenjon Barner. Mathews had 539 yards in a little more than half the carries that Murray got. Mathews averaged 5.0 yards per carry compared to Murray’s 3.6 yards. There’s no telling how those carries will be divvied up this season under new HC Doug Pederson. Remember. Mathews has had his own issues with health during his career. He has played all 16 games in a season just once since the Chargers made him their first-round pick (12th overall) in 2010. Mathews missed three games last season with a concussion and was on the injury report for several other games with a groin strain. He had sports hernia surgery in January and has been cleared by the medical staff to participate in minicamp this week. We'll be watching his progress closely in coming weeks.