Jason Peters has been a punching bag for fans over the past few seasons.
He’s had trouble staying healthy after he suffered a season-ending knee injury midway through the 2017 Super Bowl season. And when he was healthy, it was clear that his age was starting to catch up with him.
On Friday, Doug Pederson announced Peters will be placed on IR with a toe injury, ending his 2020 season. With JP turning 39 next month, this could very well be the end of the road for him.
Philly fans are notorious for letting recency bias cloud their judgement on a player. There’s no denying Peters has been a liability the past few seasons, and the organization is guilty of letting him get away with it a bit. But let’s not let his recent struggles overshadow what he meant to this franchise over the past decade.
The Eagles took somewhat of a risk trading for Peters back in 2009. They sent a 1st and a 4th round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, along with a 6th round pick in the 2010 draft to the Bills to acquire JP. The team then immediately signed him to a 4-year extensions worth $51 million.
Sure, Peters was a standout tackle at the time, but no one thought he’d reach the heights he did during his time with the Eagles.
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From 2009 to 2016, Peters made the Pro Bowl in every single season except for 2012, when he tore his Achillies prior to the season. He was also selected as a first-team All-Pro in two of those seven years, 2011 and 2013.
All in all, Peters made nine Pro Bowls in his career. Only four other tackles in NFL history made more Pro Bowls than Peters: Anthony Munoz, Jonathan Ogden, Willie Roaf, and Joe Thomas.
Peters also earned the highest honor an NFL player can receive outside of making the Hall of Fame, being named to the 2010’s All-Decade Team.
He’ll go down as not only one of the best Eagles players of all-time, he’ll be recognized as one of the best left tackles to ever play the game. Peters was a freak of nature when he was on his prime. He made blocking — whether it be a normal pass set or blocking down field on screen — look easy.
This is one of my personal favorites from Peters’ career:
He was really one of the only offensive lineman who could move like that downfield. For all intents and purposes, he revolutionized what it means to be a top flight tackle in today’s NFL.
Pederson did not indicate whether Peters told him if he plans to play past this season, but we have to imagine this’ll be the end of the line for him. He’s always said he wanted to retire as an Eagle, and now he has his opportunity to do just that.
It’s been a struggle for Peters the past few seasons, and the Eagles now have a clear succession plan with Jordan Mailata and Andre Dillard returning next season.
Say what you want about the guy and all the money he’s made from this organization, but he was an absolute pleasure to watch every Sunday during that middle stretch of the 2010’s. He was, and still is for that matter, the archetype that every team references when assessing young offensive tackles.
Like I did for Brian Dawkins, I’ll be making a trip to Canton when Jason Peters is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.