A month ago, just hours after Brandon Brooks blew out his Achilles, I wrote this:
"Jason Peters doesn't have a job, and the Eagles don't have a right guard. This is a no-brainer."
And I also wrote this:
"Howie Roseman should be on the phone right now with Peters, offering him a few million bucks to return to Philly and reinvent himself as a guard."
Nice to see Howie's listening!
Peters is back to play right guard, and that's great news for the Eagles.
Nothing against Matt Pryor, who I think would have done a capable job at right guard if he got the call and has a nice future ahead of him.
NFL
But Jason Peters is in an entirely different class. It's not often you lose a 3-time Pro Bowler and get to replace him with a 9-time Pro Bowler.
Peters is 38 and going into his 18th season, but this is not a normal human being. There is zero question Peters can not only handle right guard but also thrive there.
It makes sense in so many ways.
Peters may not have the quickness and athleticism he had in his prime, but he's still as powerful as ever, and moving from tackle to guard there's less of a premium on movement and running and footwork and more of a premium on strength and power.
J.P. is a football player more than he is a tackle or a guard. He's a student of the game, and if two decades working under people like Juan Castillo and Jeff Stoutland doesn't prepare you for a position switch, nothing can.
The Eagles get a lot out of this deal. They get a mentor for the young offensive linemen. They get an emergency left tackle if something happens with Andre Dillard. They get a future Hall of Famer in between Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson. And they get one of the team's biggest inspirational leaders back in the locker room.
And Peters gets to extend a career that's been in limbo since the Eagles cut ties with him back in March.
If it's 3rd-and-2 and you're running Miles Sanders behind Kelce, Peters and Johnson, I like your chances.
The big question with a position switch like this is always whether the guy really wants to make the change. If your heart isn't in it, you won't succeed.
Left tackle may have more cachet than right guard, but for Peters, it's never been about his ego. The guy's made nine Pro Bowls, and he's going to the Hall of Fame. He's secure with his legacy.
The dude just loves to compete and he loves to win, and now he has the chance to do that again.
"As long as I can do it, I'm going to (play)," Peters said last summer. "Whether that's tackle or guard, I can play all the way across the board."
There are a lot of people out there who aren't J.P. believers anymore. Too many penalties, too many injuries.
And I get that. But moving inside will eliminate a lot of those concerns. And it's not like everybody else on the team has been healthy the last few years.
Peters finished strong last year and that was encouraging. He missed those three games against the Cowboys, Bills and Bears with a knee injury, but the last eight games he missed six of 599 snaps and played at a high level during the stretch run.
If the price of having a Hall of Fame backup right guard is a few false starts and a handful of missed snaps here and there? I can live with that.
And if anybody can go in and play a new position without OTAs, minicamps or preseason games, it's Jason Peters.
"I still can get it done," Peters said after last season ended. "If I couldn't get it done, I would just walk away. But I can still go."
This is a move that had to be made. And if you don't think he can pull it off? Then you just don't know Jason Peters.
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