As many fans and pundits expected throughout the offseason, the 38-year-old Jason Peters will be returning to the Eagles to play his 17th NFL season. Peters’ contract will be for one year and will be worth up to $6 million with $3 million in guarantees.
This news comes after NFL analyst Brian Baldinger dropped a tweet over the weekend hinting at a major move coming out of Philly.
After fans started speculating who Baldinger might be hinting at, a few big time names were thrown in the pot. Jadeveon Clowney, Jamal Adams and Yannick Ngakoue just to name a few. I’ll admit, I took the bait as well and started to believe the team might actually land one of these Pro Bowl talents.
But in retrospect, it’s no surprise that the name Baldinger was hinting at turned out to be Peters. He’s being signed to play right guard due to the injury of Brandon Brooks, so he’ll be filling a huge void along the line.
Howie Roseman has stated time and time again that he values the offensive and defensive lines more than anything. Peters is old and obviously not the All-Pro player he used to be, but I’d have to imagine he’s an upgrade over what the Eagles currently have at right guard, even though he’s never played the position before.
He’s beloved in the locker room and a true leader in every sense of the word. Having him there to coach up Andre Dillard for a second straight year is huge. As a young player in the NFL, you can never have enough coaching. Peters played a big role in getting Big V ready for the Super Bowl run back in 2017 when Peters went down with injury. Any pointers Dillard can get from a future Hall of Fame left tackle is invaluable for his development.
Fans like to point out Peter’s tendency to commit false starts and check himself out of games, but it’s really not as bad as some fans would like to believe. Peters committed six false starts last season, All-Pro tackle Laremy Tunsil had 14 and another All-Pro tackle, David Bakhtiari, had five. Six is about average for any left tackle in the NFL.
His snap percentage was lower than most tackles, playing 75% of the snaps in 2019. It’s not ideal, but the Eagles do have solid depth along the offensive line and I have faith Matt Pryor could step in on occasion without the offense missing a beat.
The big question is can Peters actually transition to guard and be effective. It’s hard to say, but he did transition from a college tight end into one of the best blind side protectors in Eagles history. Obviously, a position change entering your 17th year in the league isn’t ideal, but Howie wouldn’t have brought him back in that role if the organization didn’t have confidence that he can pull it off.
Peters wasn’t the big signing everyone was hoping for when they saw Baldy’s tweet this weekend, but at the end of the day, our team is better with Peters than we are without him.
1 comment