Eagles Re-Sign Jason Peters

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

There were rumors of big news coming that would make the Eagles better.

On Tuesday morning, the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo made an announcement that does just that.

He reports that the team will be re-signing Jason Peters as a guard.

Jason Peters gets a one-year deal worth up to $6 million, with $3 million in guarantees to go back to the #Eagles as a guard.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 14, 2020

The intention would seem to be having Peters start at right guard in place of Brandon Brooks, though the team may also opt to move Seumalo to the right side and have Peters play next to Andre Dillard so that he can continue to mentor the sophomore tackle.

The move would seem to take the job out of the hands of Matt Pryor and make it Peters’ job to lose. By doing so, the Eagle preserve one back-up lineman with NFL playing experience available for further injuries.

Peters also adds some backup at tackle, so if an injury were to occur there, he could kick outside and Pryor could take over at guard.

Behind Pryor, Jordan Mailata, Prince Tega Wanogho, Jack Driscoll, Nate Herbig and Sua Opeta would seem to be fighting for depth roles on the team.

One benefit of Peters playing at guard is that he would not need to cover as much ground or lunge back as far in pass protection. Peters has become known for his false start penalties in recent years despite having just 12 in his last 29 regular season starts. Part of the reason he has developed this habit is that he has lost a bit of quickness in his older age and looks to compensate for that and part of it is that he is nearly always off the line “right at the snap” but is rarely called for it due to his status in the league. There is a chance that problem alleviates a bit with Peters not needing to back up so far in pass protection and without the need to cover everything coming from his left. Maybe that doesn’t happen, but it is a possibility.

Additionally, the Eagles are in pretty tight with cap space. His cap hit being between $3 and $6 million isn’t too bad. That is important because, although the team had over $20 million in space prior to the Peters signing, they are set to be near $50 million over this year’s cap in 2021. There are a few moves that could save quite a bit of money (moving on from players like Malik Jackson, Marquise Goodwin, DeSean Jackson), that cap number may actually decrease instead of increase due to the pandemic’s likelihood to affect revenue negatively. That means the Eagles really need to keep as much cap space as possible this season so that they can roll that over to help with the crunches they will need to make in order to sign their drafted players and attempt to sign any free agent whatsoever.

Make no mistake, that is a low cap hit for a first-ballot Hall of Famer that was still one of the best in the league last season.

2020 figures to be his 12th-straight season in Philadelphia.

Roster Move: #Eagles have agreed to terms with G Jason Peters on a one-year contract. pic.twitter.com/3VeUcCzOpx

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) July 14, 2020