ITHACA — Jeff Mathews had just finished throwing 90 passes Thursday when he turned to Jaguars quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo and asked, “Do you need to see anything else?”
It is a question Mathews is in the process of figuratively asking NFL teams, as the former Cornell quarterback hopes to impress a team enough to get drafted. On Thursday, Mathews conducted his pro day, so he was asking the question, literally.
Scelfo replied, “I’ve seen you do everything. Is your arm going to fall off?”
Mathews smiled and said, “I can throw all day.”
Mathews showed that with a 40-minute, 90-pass session that showed off his arm strength and accuracy. Only a few footballs hit the turf at Schoellkopf Field as Mathews performed in front of Scelfo and scouts from the Bills, Colts, Jaguars and Raiders. The Jaguars appear to be the most interested team. Scelfo took Mathews to dinner the night before his pro day. The Cardinals are scheduled to conduct a private workout Monday.
About 1,600 miles away from Ithaca, Johnny Manziel conducted his pro day in College Station, Texas. A former US president and representatives from 30 teams attended his workout, which also featured rap music and apparel for sale now by Nike.
Mathews’ workout had no celebrities, but teammates and coaches watched as he threw on a 21-degree day on a snow-ringed field. The script for the workout was conceived by Mathews and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms, who he has worked with in New Jersey this winter.
The 90 throws were a lot for a workout. Manziel threw 64 passes at his pro day.
“I felt good,” Mathews said. “We did everything we wanted to do. We had around 90 throws. I think most guys do 50 to 60. People were kind of saying, be careful throwing 90 throws because other people think it gives you a lot of opportunities to make mistakes. But talking about it with Chris, that’s something we do all the time. We throw 200 balls and have a long, strong workout. I wanted to show that, hey, I can throw all day if I need to and show a bunch of different routes and show my footwork a bit. I think I did that. I felt very confident in the workout.”
While quarterbacks like Manziel, Blake Bortles and Teddy Bridgewater are jockeying for position in the draft, Mathews is just hoping to hear his name called in one of the seven rounds. One scout who attended the workout said he thought Mathews helped himself.
“I do think he’ll get drafted,” the scout said. ”I don’t know where. It’s so tricky with the draft. You never know. But the position is such a valuable position that someone’s going to have to take a chance on a guy who’s smart, has that size and has good arm strength.”
If he is not drafted, Mathews figures to be a free agent signed in the hours after the draft with a chance to compete in a team’s spring program and training camp for a roster spot.
ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said he thinks Mathews will go undrafted.
“I think as a priority undrafted free agent he has a chance to be a developmental quarterback,” Kiper Jr. said. “[He’s] not necessarily a draft choice. A couple of years ago I would have thought maybe fifth, sixth, seventh round. It’s a fine line between being a seventh-round pick and being a priority free agent. If you had to guess right now, you would say he comes in and competes for a job as a priority free agent. Maybe down the road he shows up, maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he’s a career backup. He’s going to get a chance to be that No. 3 developmental quarterback with somebody I believe. “
Mathews is used to being doubted. He barely was recruited out of high school in California and wound up at Cornell, where the Big Red were not exactly a powerhouse.
“I watched ‘Cinderella Man’ last night,” Mathews said. “That’s kind of the role I feel I’ve always been in. I wasn’t really heralded coming out of high school. At Cornell we were the underdog quite a bit and fortunately we were able to pull off some big wins. I think that’s a role I’ve kind of been in in my life for whatever reason. I feel confident in that, in knowing people may not always trust in what you bring to the table. But as long as I believe in what I can do and kind of show it every time I get an opportunity, I’m going to be in good shape.”