March 11, 2019
The Jason Peters speculation can end. The Philadelphia Eagles announced that they have signed their starting left tackle to a one-year contract for the 2019 season.
The Eagles had a team option that they had to exercise by March 12, or Peters would have become a free agent. Instead, they agreed on a new contract for the 2019 season, and it's a notable pay cut. Per Jeff McLane:
Jason Peters’ new one-year contract with the #Eagles is worth a max of $10M with $5.5M guaranteed, according to his agent Vince Taylor.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) March 11, 2019
Peters was originally scheduled to count for $13,166,668 (correction: $10,666,668) on the cap in 2019.
While Peters started all 18 games this season (16 regular season, 2 playoffs), he missed at least one snap in 11 of them. As such, the thinking was that Peters was a liability because he couldn't finish games, a sentiment that I do agree with, to some degree. However, his full slate of snap counts in 2018 is worth examining:
| Opponent | Snaps | Percentage |
| Falcons | 71 of 72 | 98.6% |
| Buccaneers | 8 of 79 | 10.1% |
| Colts | 82 of 82 | 100% |
| Titans | 78 of 78 | 100% |
| Vikings | 55 of 59 | 93.2% |
| Giants | 38 of 71 | 53.5% |
| Panthers | 61 of 67 | 91.0% |
| Jaguars | 43 of 62 | 69.4% |
| Cowboys | 62 of 62 | 100% |
| Saints | 51 of 51 | 100% |
| Giants | 65 of 65 | 100% |
| Redskins | 70 of 75 | 93.3% |
| Cowboys | 52 of 52 | 100% |
| Rams | 61 of 64 | 95.3% |
| Texans | 5 of 82 | 6.1% |
| Redskins | 66 of 71 | 93.0% |
| Bears | 68 of 68 | 100% |
| Saints | 37 of 51 | 72.5% |
| TOTAL | 973 of 1211 | 80.3% |
While he missed at least one snap in 11 of 18 games, he also played at least 90 percent of the snaps in 13 of 18 games. He played at least half the snaps in all but two games, as he was lost early in both the Buccaneers and Texans games.
Peters was coming off an ACL tear at the age of 35, and he admitted that it was still barking at him during the season. In addition to the recovery from that ACL surgery, Peters suffered an assortment of other injuries, including a quad injury, which may have occurred because he was favoring one leg over the other, which is common for players coming off major surgery.
Will Peters' penchant for coming out of games accelerate at the age of 36, or will it stabilize a bit another year removed from his ACL surgery? We'll find out this season.
When he was able to play, while certainly not the dominant player he once was, Peters was still probably an above average left tackle in a league that generally doesn't have great offensive line play.
By returning to the team in 2019, the Eagles will not be forced to start Halapoulivaati Vaitai, they won't have to reach for an offensive tackle early in the draft, and they'll give Jordan Mailata another year to develop behind the scenes.
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