INDIANAPOLIS — Speaking at the podium at the NFL Combine on Wednesday, Eagles top personnel executive Howie Roseman made sure to correct a reporter after a question.
Jason Peters, Roseman noted, was not a 38-year old left tackle. He is 37. A difference Roseman felt the need to note before praising his unique athletic ability.
"He's not a normal human being. He's freaky," Roseman said. "He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer as a player and as a person. So normal rules don't apply when it comes to Jason."
Normal rules have certainly not applied to Peters over the last few years in a many ways. Each of the last two offseasons it seemed like a near certainty that the Eagles would be moving on from Peters. That hasn't been the case.
Many have argued that emotion has played a large role in keeping Peters, who has had his fair share of struggles over the last two seasons.
"The hardest thing we have to do (with decisions) is separate the emotion from it. Quite frankly, we're an organization led by our owner (Jeffrey Lurie) and led by our head coach (Doug Pederson) that emotion plays a part in some of the decisions we make," Roseman said. "We get attached to our players because they do so much for us. I don't know that that ever is going to go away as long as this leadership is in place. We try to balance those things, but it's hard. It's hard. In this day and age, it's hard also for guys to spend their whole careers with one team. There is a lot of player movement. But I can tell you, with all of the evaluation that we do, at the end of the day, those things don't matter."
Now, the Eagles face that same decision this offseason they have the last two. Do they move on from Peters to save $10.5 million in cap space? Or do they try to force Peters to take a pay cut to stay with the team for another season, opening up some much needed cap space?
This time around, however, Peters has more power than he has in year's past. The Eagles have not done a good job finding a potential replacement for Peters, giving him more power than many want to admit in any potential negotiation with the team. There is also the reality that Peters played at a much higher level than fans would have you believe.
According to Pro Football Focus, Peters allowed only two sacks last season, which was tied for 8th fewest among tackles that played at least 50% of their team's snaps. Of the top 30 left tackles in the NFL in snaps played, Peters was 18th in total pressures allowed — not great, but not terrible either.
Peter also did a better job staying healthy as the season went on. Peters played in 100% of the snaps in just two of the Eagles first eight games. He played at least 93% of the snaps in seven of the team's last eight regular season games and in 105 of the team's 119 postseason snaps on offense. Overall, Peters played in 80% of the team's snaps, and only 18 left tackles in the entire league played more snaps than Peters did in 2018.
"I think in Jason's mind right now – I don't want to put words in his mouth, but he feels like getting healthy and being 100 percent going into the offseason, going into training camp. [Last year] he was coming off that [knee] injury, obviously," head coach Doug Pederson said. "You know it's tough to play like he did, to battle through that injury every single week and then the soreness and the different things is a credit to him."
Peters' cap hit for next season accurately reflects where he is among players at his position. Peters is currently slated to have a $10.6 million cap hit in 2019, which is 10th in the NFL among left tackles. It isn't a stretch to say that, even at 37-years old, Peters is close to being a top 10 left tackle in the NFL.
If the Eagles do move on from Peters, they will either have to find a replacement in free agency, or bet on either Halapoulivaati Vaitai or Jordan Mailata to step in and protect Carson Wentz next year. That is a risky bet, and arguably a more risky move then hoping Peters can stay healthy.
Peters and his agent likely know this, which is why he should decline any attempt by the Eagles to get him to take a paycut — and trust that, once again, the Eagles will decide they simply can't yet move on from the left tackle.
You can follow Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
