Jason Peters. Team guy.
That characterization is a little different than how it looks on the outside after Peters held up the Eagles for a pay raise to move from right guard to left tackle.
But that’s the word from Eagles offensive line mastermind Jeff Stoutland who's the one that let the 38-year-old nine-time Pro Bowler know this past week that he was moving from from left tackle to right guard.
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The skeptic would say, “Of course Peters doesn’t mind moving back to guard. He already got his money.”
But it also has to be a little bit humbling playing left tackle at a Hall of Fame level for nearly two decades and then being told a former rugby player drafted in the seventh round who had never played organized football before this year is a better option.
“No, the conversation he and I had was outstanding,” Stoutland said. “He said, ‘Coach, whatever you need me to do to get the best five guys on the field, I'm all in.’”
That means Jordan Mailata at left tackle, Isaac Seumalo at left guard, Jason Kelce at center, Peters at right guard and Matt Pryor at right tackle in place of Lane Johnson, whose season is over with an ankle injury.
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“As far as a guy who can move inside and do multiple things, (Peters) can do it,” Johnson said. “I think with Pryor, those are two big people as far as covering ground and being able to move efficiently. I think they'll work good together.”
Peters and Kelce have been teammates for a decade but this will be the first time they’ve ever played next to each other. Peters has also never played next to Pryor, who has played right guard but never left guard.
“You guys see us … working on combination blocks, and I (was) just amazed at how he sees angles,” Stoutland said of Peters. “He's almost like an artist. ... It doesn't matter what position he plays, he understands. Visually he gets it. Kelce and him were trying to talk through the block, and he's like, ‘Come on let's just go do it.’ And he's really just a natural.”
Peters will become the Eagles’ sixth right guard this year following Brandon Brooks, Nate Herbig, Jamon Brown, Pryor and - briefly last weekend - Sua Opeta.
“I’ll go out there and battle with him any day of the week,” Kelce said of his teammate of 11 years. “And I feel very confident, going into any game with him at any position, that we will go out there and be successful. I have no problem watching him play. Matter of fact, I love watching him play.”
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