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Wednesday, February 20
 
Falcons likely to let veteran WR Mathis go

By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com

ATLANTA -- Forced by a salary cap excess to slice veteran players from the roster, the Atlanta Falcons will release wide receiver Terance Mathis on or before the March 1 date by which every team must be in compliance with the 2002 spending limit, ESPN.com has learned.

Mathis, 34, holds the franchise records for catches (573), receiving yards (7,349) and touchdown receptions (57). He is seventh among active players in career receptions, with 666, and has eight straight seasons with at least 50 catches.

One of the city's most popular and widely-recognized athletes, particularly because of his work in the community, Mathis was apprised of the situation by coach Dan Reeves and general manager Harold Richardson confirmed the team's intention during a discussion with agent Steve Zucker.

The Falcons already released veteran wide receiver Tony Martin late in the 2001 season and the future of 11-year veteran wideout Shawn Jefferson remains unsettled. The three represented the oldest wide receiver trio in the league in 2001 and Atlanta desperately needs to get younger and faster at the position.

Despite his consistent productivity, the pending release of Mathis is hardly a surprise, but he still wants to continue his career.

"Terance definitely wants to play and we feel he's got two or three more productive seasons in him," Zucker said on Wednesday afternoon. "He'll go into the free agent market and we'll see what's available to him. But for right now, at least, retirement isn't an option."

Like many teams, Atlanta is being forced to make moves to squeeze under the $71.101 million spending limit for 2002. As reported earlier Wednesday, the team re-signed defensive tackle Ed Jasper to a five-year, $10 million contract. ESPN.com also has learned the team has completed a contract restructuring with defensive tackle Travis Hall to lower his 2002 cap figure. There was no extension involved in the Hall deal.

A 12-year veteran who began his career with the New York Jets in 1990, Mathis is entering the final season of a four-year contract signed in 1999. He carries a 2002 salary cap value of $4.975 million and is due a base salary of $4.2 million.

The Falcons will be rebated his base salary and also an offseason workout bonus of $25,000, but must count $750,000 in prorated signing bonus charges against their 2002 cap total.

Mathis came to the Falcons as an unrestricted free agent in 1994, almost as an afterthought for a team seeking wide receivers to play in the "run and shoot" offense designed by coach June Jones, and paid huge dividends on the club's rather modest investment. He had 111 catches and scored 11 touchdowns in 1994, working primarily out of the left slot in the four-wideout scheme, and was named to the Pro Bowl squad.

When the team went to a more conventional offense in 1997 under Reeves, there were legions of skeptics who suggested Mathis was a "run and shoot" phenomenon, a player who would not be able to adjust to a two-wide receiver offense. But the former New Mexico star, who began his college career as a quarterback, improved his quickness and his downfield blocking skills, and continued to prosper.

Despite a series of injuries, Mathis has played every game in each of the past six seasons.

His self-funded foundation, TLC ("Terance Loves Children") annually distributes Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys in the community and he has been honored locally and statewide for his charitable endeavors.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.






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