Phidarian "Phil" Mathis (born April 26, 1998) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

defensive tackle for the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

and was drafted by the Commanders in the second round of the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

Early life and high school

Mathis was born on April 26, 1998, in Wisner, Louisiana. He attended Franklin Parish High School prior to moving after his sophomore year to

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe (historically french: Poste-du-Ouachita) is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and parish seat of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropol ...

, where he enrolled at

Neville High School Neville High School is a high school in Monroe, Louisiana, United States. It is administered by the Monroe City Schools Board. It is located 1/2 mile from the Ouachita River. Its mascot is the Tiger. Academics Neville offers a wide variety of ac ...

. As a senior, he had 41 tackles and seven sacks. Mathis was rated a four-star recruit and committed to play college football at

over offers from LSU and

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

College career

Mathis redshirted his true freshman season at Alabama. He played in all 15 of the Crimson Tide's games as a redshirt freshman and was named to the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) All-Freshman team. Mathis had 31 tackles, five tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks with a forced fumble as the Crimson Tide won the

2021 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship was a college football bowl game played to determine a national champion in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for the 2020 season. ...

. Mathis declared for the

following the season.

Professional career

Mathis was selected by the

in the second round (47th overall) of the

. He signed his four-year rookie contract on June 21, 2022. In his NFL debut, Mathis tore the

meniscus Meniscus may refer to: * Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity * Meniscus (liquid), a curve in the upper surface of liquid contained in an object *Meniscus (optics) A lens is a ...

in his left knee and was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

Personal life

Mathis goes by the nickname of Phil.

References

External links

*
Washington Commanders bio

Alabama Crimson Tide bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathis, Phidarian 1998 births Living people People from Franklin Parish, Louisiana American football defensive tackles Players of American football from Louisiana Alabama Crimson Tide football players Washington Commanders players African-American players of American football