Last year, the Washington Commanders stunned many pundits, drafting former Alabama defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis in the second round. Some questioned Mathis’ selection. Those questions increased when Mathis went down in the first quarter of the season opener with a season-ending knee injury.
Doubts about the pick have magnified, as Mathis will start his second season in the NFL on injured reserve with a calf injury. Because he was included on the initial 53-man roster, Mathis will miss at least the first four games of the season, but he is eligible to return.
With Mathis going on IR, the Commanders re-signed center Tyler Larsen, who the team released on Tuesday.
Mathis suffered the calf injury in the Commanders’ first preseason game against the Cleveland Browns. The injury lingered throughout the rest of training camp and preseason into the regular season.
The 25-year-old has played just three NFL snaps.
At the time of his selection, some perceived him as an insurance policy to fellow former Bama defensive tackle Daron Payne.
Payne played last year on his fifth-year option. However, he parlayed his contract year into the best of his career, leading the team with 11.5 sacks and earning himself a massive $90 million extension this past offseason.
Meanwhile, expectations have tapered on Mathis to being the third DT on the team behind Payne and Jonathan Allen. Yet, any expectations on Mathis are put on hold with another significant injury.
Last year, it was a torn meniscus. Now it’s a calf injury that will rob him of at least a quarter of his sophomore season. It’s too early to write him off. But the staggering start of Mathis’ career looks familiar with the latest stretch of Washington’s second-round draft picks.
Commanders recent history of second-round draft picks doesn’t look good
Since 2016, the Commanders franchise has had a brutal stretch of second-round draft picks. Sua’Cravens (2016), Ryan Anderson (2017), Derrius Guice (2018), Sam Cosmi (2021), and now Phidarian Mathis (2022), all had unexpected sluggish starts. The Commanders traded their second-round picks in 2019 and 2020 for Montez Sweat.
During that stretch, Cosmi is Washington’s only second-round pick to have more than four starts with Washington.
Cravens played 11 games, including three starts, as a rookie. He expected to be the starting safety in his second season. But he abruptly retired from football. Former team president Bruce Allen tried to hold off the retirement, which sparked a year-long battle between Cravens and the team. Ultimately, Cravens returned to football before Washington traded him to the Denver Broncos ahead of the 2018 season.
Anderson was an edge rusher stuck in a SAM linebacker’s body. He played in 52 games but only started four games in 2019. He left Washington during the 2021 free agency with six sacks in the Burgundy and Gold.
The most disappointing second-round pick was Guice. The running back played just five games with Washington. Guice tore his ACL as a rookie in his first preseason game. He returned the following year, but a torn meniscus sidelined him. He managed to play five games that season.
Then, the unthinkable occurred. Guice faced multiple domestic violence charges going into the 2020 training camp, leading to his release by Washington. In that August, multiple sexual assault allegations surfaced against Guice along with separate sexual misconduct allegations.
Cosmi has the most starts at 15, but that’s not without him missing games due to various injuries through his first two seasons. Drafted as a right tackle, he’s been kicked over to right guard going into the 2023 season.
Phidarian Mathis has gotten off to an ominous start. Hopefully, he rebounds from his latest hiccup and has a steady career with Washington. But three snaps through his first year and a quarter is a cause for concern.
