After being excused from practice for personal reasons, it turns out that Rishard Matthews’ time with the Tennessee Titans is on the verge of coming to a screeching halt.
Tennessee Titans WR Rishard Matthews, who has been with the team since signings as a free agent in 2016, has reportedly left the team “and his future is uncertain”. Matthews was excused from Wednesday’s practice due to personal reason, and it appears those reasons had a lot do with his standing on the team. On Wednesday evening, Matthews posted an obscure Instagram post that left a lot of questions unanswered.
After missing today's practice for "personal reasons," #Titans WR Rishard Matthews posted this ever-ambiguous picture and caption to Instagram. pic.twitter.com/VFQ4owxG4Y
— Luke Worsham (@luke_worsham) September 27, 2018
This is not the first time Matthews had been excused from practice, and he even missed the 2017 preseason game against the Carolina Panthers for personal reasons. The absences led our co-editor, Will Lomas, to suggest that Matthews was a trade target, and that theory was fueled this offseason when Rishard Matthews was practically unheard of. Matthews was also very outspoken and proactive during the NFL anthem protests, which drove him and Titans fans to interact about it at times on Twitter. Matthews deleted his account and hasn’t been active on Twitter in quite a while; a development which was quite curious in the grand scheme of things.
According to A to Z Sports Nashville, Matthews texted the news outlets and said “just wasn’t happy with what was going on, barely getting any playing time. It was time to move on.” Matthews has asked for his release and the Titans will grant it to him once the paperwork is finalized.
The former Miami Dolphin was a fantastic value signing for the Titans through his first two seasons, racking up 118 catches for 1,740 yards and 13 touchdowns. He was once again expected to be the Titans’ most trusted and reliable wide receiver; especially with TE Delanie Walker suffering a season-ending injury in Week 1.
Matthews had worked his way back from injuries this offseason and played in each of the first three games of the season, but was barely targeted as a receiver and was curiously deployed as a punt returner on several occasions, something he had only done once before in 2015. Seemingly out of favor with the new coaching staff, the Titans will put their faith in a young receiving corps to account for Matthews’ absence.