Jordan Matthews’ hamstring injury is reportedly ‘significant’

Many expected Jordan Matthews to be the man the New England Patriots lean on with Julian Edelman suspended for the first four games of the regular season, but an injury could prevent that from happening.

Matthews has not been practicing this week with what the team described as a hamstring issue, and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network has been told the injury is “significant.”

One injury to watch: #Patriots WR Jordan Matthews suffered a hamstring injury that is deemed to be significant, source said. This would explain the continued interest in FA WR Eric Decker.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 1, 2018

The Patriots reportedly brought in free agent wide receiver Eric Decker for a visit on Tuesday, and Matthews’ injury could have a lot to do with that.

New England is relatively deep at the receiver position even with Edelman suspended, and there have been some rumblings that Matthews isn’t going to make the final 53-man roster. If he’s forced to miss a significant portion of training camp due to injury, that would become even more likely.