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Guard Evan Mathis was set to make $5.5 million for the Eagles this season, but stayed away from Philly during offseason workouts before being released amid conflicting accounts about whether or not that’s what he wanted.

Mathis hasn’t landed another job for the 2015 season yet and Jets General Manager Mike Maccagnan indicated that a big part of the reason is Mathis’s desire to get as close to that $5.5 million as possible.

“We’ve had talks with Evan’s agent,” Maccagnan said, via the New York Daily News. “They’re kind of getting a feel for where – they have a range for where they want to be. The other thing with a lot of teams honestly at this point in time, you almost want to kind of see what you have first to a certain degree. Obviously Evan’s a good player, but as this thing plays out a bit we’ll get a better feel for that. The thing is too is that Evan might have a value he’s looking for right now that may not be in the value that some of the teams want to potentially spend on him. But we’ll see how that develops.”

The Jets have several players under consideration for the right guard job this season. Mathis would almost certainly be an upgrade on Willie Colon, Brian Winters, Oday Aboushi or Brent Qvale, but, for now at least, that potential upgrade appears to come at too high a cost for the team’s pocketbook.