Jordan Matthews, then of the Buffalo Bills. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Patriots signed former Bills and Eagles receiver Jordan Matthews to a one-year deal.
He's 25. He's been in the NFL four seasons. Why sign with the Pats rather than the Packers, Cardinals, or Titans?
"I mean, this was the best opportunity for me to grow as a player," Matthews said. "I had some other teams that contacted me that I visited, but I knew just as a player and as a man--I'm recently married, I'm about to have my first child--I don't feel like I'm called to be comfortable, and I knew this would be a good place for me to grow."
Matthews will wear the number 80, but the new wideout decided to clear it with former New England fan favorite Danny Amendola first.
"I know what he did here," Matthews said. "I don't think that you have to get a number retired and all that stuff to understand you need to have respect for what guys do in a place like this. I think they call him 'Danny Playoff.' I think he earned that nickname. I just wanted to make sure for him, hey, is this cool? And he said it was."
He wore 87 in Buffalo. Didn't go for that one?
"I think somebody's wearing that," he joked. "Whoever has that, I could probably fight him, but I heard he's big, so I won't worry about it, he can have it."
Rob Gronkowski's 6'6", 265 pounds--yeah, Gronk's pretty big.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman reports