January 03, 2016
Jason Peters turns 34 in January and is currently the third-oldest offensive lineman in the NFL. While Peters has had a tremendous career and is arguably a Hall of Fame talent, his career is clearly in decline and he has experienced multiple injuries this season to his ankle, back, quad, and elbow.
In 2016, Peters will count for $9,300,000, of which the Eagles can save $6,300,000 by releasing or trading him. And so, Peters' return to the team is anything but a sure thing. Peters, however, knows where he wants to be.
"I'm an Eagle, man. I'm going to retire here," said Peters.
This past week, Peters came under scrutiny when it was reported that he took himself out of the season-ending loss against the Washington Redskins. Peters denied those accusations.
"I banged my elbow up," he said. "I didn't want to go out there and continue to hurt it, so that's when (Dennis) Kelly went in. (The media) tried to say I came out, took myself out and all that, but I was banged up. Sproles chipped me. He wasn't trying to chip me, but he chipped my elbow, and it swelled up on me. We were getting blown out, so they sat me down. I (played hurt) in the Tampa Bay game, the Detroit game, so for them to say that, that's not true."
With Peters' career potentially winding down, there has been talk about a potential move to guard. There's a near 0% chance the Eagles will pay Peters $9.3 million to play guard, and Peters isn't ready for that talk yet either.
"I can still play tackle," said Peters. "I'm the best we got. Who are they going to put there? Who's better than me in this locker room? Nobody. Who can they draft better than me? Nobody. Who can they pick up batter than me? Nobody. I mean, you're going to get beat here and there. That's part of it. Part of this offense (is that) I'm one-on-one every play. 90 plays, 80 plays. Get beat one or two times, that's just part of it. They get paid too."
The reality is that if the Eagles are realistic about their Super Bowl aspirations next season (they shouldn't have any), they could try to find a trade partner that is a legitimate contender in need of a tackle. They wouldn't get a ton for Peters, but with a large number of holes to fill, every lottery ticket counts.
Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski
Add some PhillyVoice RSS feeds.
