Speaking Saturday morning to reporters, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson confirmed that left tackle Andre Dillard will indeed miss the 2020 season and will be placed on injured reserve.
What he didn't confirm, however, is who will be replacing him — and would not commit to Jason Peters moving over from right guard to his Hall-of-Fame home at left tackle.
"In regard to left tackle, Jason Peters is obviously in the conversation. We do have some young players, [T] Jordan Mailata, [G/T] Matt Pryor, [T] Jack Driscoll, who's a rookie obviously but playing some tackle for us. But we've got a couple of guys now including Jason Peters that we want to look at over at the left side," Pederson said. "J.P. has done an outstanding job, coming in, playing the right guard spot. We're going to continue to look at him there, as well, but we have some options. We've got a couple of days here before, one, roster cuts, but obviously getting into the regular season."
Now we know why.
According to a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Peters wants a pay raise if he is going to be the full-time starting left tackle. Peters is currently on a one-year, $3 million deal that he signed last month. At the time, Peters was signed to be the full-time right guard, not left tackle.
The idea that the Eagles might need to give Peters a pay raise to move to left tackle is interesting. If he is their best option, paying Peters extra money to move to left tackle is a no brainer -- especially if it means better protection for Carson Wentz.
On the other hand, Peters asking for a pay raise to move positions likely isn't going to sit well with the front office. It wouldn't be surprising if Peters wasn't too thrilled with the team moving on from him for Dillard, and now that they need him back at left tackle, this could be his attempt to stick it back to the team.
The idea that Peters is might not be the starting left tackle was further backed up when the team trotted out the following starting offensive line to start practice on Saturday
LT Matt Pryor
LG Isaac Seumalo
C Jason Kelce
RG Jason Peters
RT Jordan Mailata
(Note: Practice was closed to reporters due to rain, but the team had a live-feed of the beginning of practice online)
There are a few interesting takeaways from that configuration:
** The most notable thing about the starting five is that it did not include Lane Johnson. It appears that Johnson, the Pro Bowl right tackle, has now missed six-straight practices with a lower-body injury. Pederson insisted prior to practice that Johnson is still day-to-day, but each day Johnson misses, the greater the concern should be that he won't be 100% to start the season. For all of the issues the Eagles have along the offensive line, Johnson potentially not being 100% would be a massive blow, as they would then have uncertainty at both tackle positions.
** The Eagles keeping Peters at right guard, at least to start practice, is interesting and back-up the report that he won't be moving without a pay raise. It very well could be that Pederson and offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland wants to try out the younger players at tackle for a few days, feeling confident they would slide Peters over to left tackle at any point and he could play it, considering he did so for 16 years. Or, it could be that Peters won't be moving until he gets an increase in his 2020 salary.
Whichever one it is, Pederson sounded confident they could slide Peters back to left tackle if they needed to.
"Listen, Jason Peters has played left tackle his whole career and he's done an outstanding job. He'll obviously go down as one of the top left tackles in this game," Pederson said. "So it does give us a little bit of flexibility, a little bit of time to look at these young players, to look at [T] Jordan Mailata, to look at [G/T] Matt Pryor over there and [T] Jack Driscoll and some of the guys that are playing tackle for us."
** It would still be surprising if Peters is not the left tackle in Week 1, despite an apparent desire to be paid more. If he isn't, however, and the team goes with a younger player — like Pryor or Mailata — it would not be a good sign for Dillard. If Pryor or Mailata play LT all season and play it at a high level, which in theory is possible, that would be a major blow to Dillard's chances of reclaiming the job in 2021. Peters (presumably) won't be back in 2021. Pryor or Mailata could, and the team being willing to give them a shot also shows a willingness to give them the job in 2021 and beyond as well.
** Pryor being on the left side, as opposed to the right side, is interesting. Mailata has been taking snaps at the left side throughout amp, and Pryor has been taking snaps on the right side — at least when practices have been open to the media — for two years. The Eagles have said repeatedly they consider Pryor the sixth-offensive lineman, so perhaps they were always going to make him the top backup at whoever went down first, and are comfortable sliding him over from the right to the left.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
