Perhaps Jason Peters hasn't played his final game in an Eagles uniform.
Speaking Tuesday at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson was extremely clear in his answer when asked if he wanted Peters back next season.
"Oh yeah. Yeah," Pederson said. "I think I said the same thing about Darren Sproles. Heck yeah."
The statement and the comparison to Sproles are certainly interesting considering the Eagles brought Sproles back twice after it appeared his time with the team was done.
Are they about to do the same with Peters?
Peters potentially coming back would certainly be a surprise as the team spent their 2019 first-round pick on Andre Dillard, trading up to select him and make him their left tackle of the future. Any decision to re-sign Peters would presumably push back Dillard starting another year, meaning he would spend the first two years of his career as a backup.
General manager Howie Roseman was not as strong as Pederson was in saying he wanted Peters back, but he also didn't shut the door on a possible return.
"As it pertains to all free agents I think it is important we keep an open mind and try to figure out as we more information," Roseman said. "A big part of this week is accumulating more information, that is what we will do here. Obviously when talking about Jason Peters you are talking about a Hall of Fame player, a Hall of Fame person, someone that is very special to us and played at a really high level last year. We will go through all those decisions this week."
Perhaps Roseman and Pederson were just being kind when asked about Peters, and have no intention of bringing him back, but Roseman insisted having the potential of bringing Peters back while Dillard was on the roster was a good problem to have.
"Andre getting that experience at left tackle was huge for him. We are very confident in his abilities to be a really good player, but it is a good problem for us to have that we have a lot of these offensive linemen that we think are good players and can play," Roseman said. "It is an (offensive line) deficient league. I think we feel fortunate that we have these good options and it isn't the flip side where we are trying to figure out what we are going to do on our offensive line going forward and we have a lot of good options to choose from."
While they might both be good options, it would be hard to view Peters coming back in 2020 as anything other than the Eagles not being confident in Dillard. Most first-round picks start their first season, and by their second season, every single first-round pick should not only be starting but playing at a high level. The Eagles electing to bring Peters back, and send Dillard to the bench again, could easily be read as the team not feeling the same kind of optimism they had for Dillard just one year ago.
Optimistic or not, however, the reality is this — the Eagles have to put the best left tackle possible infront of Wentz. The team can't just put Dillard out there because he was a first-round pick. He should be good enough to go out there regardless of his draft status. If that isn't the case, and the Eagles are more confident internally in Peters, than bringing back Peters is right move.
Whether they bring Peters back remains to be seen, but one thing that is clear is that this franchise still views Peters in the highest of lights — and that is going to play a role in their decision.
"When you talk about guys who are historic in the National Football League, guys who are going to the Hall of Fame, guys who are going to the Eagles Hall of Fame, those are special people and special players. You don't have a lot of those during the course of your career," Roseman said. "You try to make decisions first that are best for the football team and at the same time have respect and appreciation for what guys have done and what guys have done going forward and are going to be a part of your organization for a long period of time."
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
