Last season, Rashean Mathis graded out as the 12th-best cornerback in the NFL on Pro Football Focus. Along with Darius Slay, Mathis helped form one of the top cornerback duos in all of the NFL. Solid cornerback play has really been a rarity for the Detroit Lions over the years, but Mathis played a big part in turning things around in 2014.
Following the season, Mathis indicated that he wants to re-sign with the Lions, and the Lions indicated that they want to re-sign Mathis. He is still a free agent, though, and it turns out that the Lions aren't the only team interested in him. From MLive's Kyle Meinke:
But Mathis is drawing interest from several other teams, according to a source, and currently weighing his options for 2015 and beyond.
Considering he played on a minimum salary benefit deal last season, I would imagine that Mathis is looking for a better contract this time around. That type of a deal might be tough to find considering Mathis will be 35 in August, but clearly there is a decent market for him despite his age.
It's worth noting Mathis didn't actually re-sign with the Lions until mid-April last year, so there's still plenty of time for him to end up back in Detroit. Given what's left on the market, Mathis seems like one of the Lions' top remaining priorities, and I can't imagine they want to add starting cornerback to their list of needs. With that in mind, this feels like a situation where the two sides will eventually get something worked out to keep Mathis in Detroit for at least one more season.