The Eagles had one of the biggest offseason successes a few weeks ago when All-Pro goalkeeper Brandon Brooks was lost to the season with an Achilles tear. Replacing Brooks was not going to be easy, especially with the Eagles’ course against the ceiling of future years in times of uncertainty. I liked outgoing president Matt Pryor to do a good job, but free agents with a proven track record as beginners were available, including a familiar face: Jason Peters.
Of course, the 16-year-old has never played a guard before – but Peters is a familiar face who knows the system at a time when the camp will be limited and the cohesion of the offensive line will be more important. As he goes from left tackle to right guard, he also brings something that the Eagles have appreciated in all their offensive linemen: positional versatility. Peters was brought in to play guard, of course … but he’s also absolutely able to play tackle.
Peters ‘role as the Eagles’ left starting striker over the past decade forces an inevitable question about the performance of second-year professional Andre Dillard, drafted in the first round last year to eventually replace Peters. Dillard had flashes of playing time last season, but struggled with left and right tackles. Its weekly starter capacity has not yet been measured.
It is impossible to say that Peters’ signature has nothing to do with Dillard and his work as a left tackler. Peters held the position just last season, and continued to maintain him for the duration of his healthy play because he was better than Dillard as a rookie. Even though the Eagles signed Peters without any intention of placing him on the left tackle depth chart, they introduced the issue during media sessions, in the locker room and certainly at the back of Dillard’s head. If Dillard plays poorly to some extent, the option to send Peters to the left tackle will still be there.
This is no different from the question the Eagles forced with their Jalen Hurts writing. Even with all the money they put into Wentz’s second contract, despite their insistence not to have any problems with Wentz’s long-term health, choosing Hurts invites questions about Wentz’s health and potential tensions in the locker room. How many raw parts of Wentz in 2020 will we see before people demand that Hurts take pictures? It would be a crazy call, of course – but it would still be a call.
Of course, team spirit often goes against the harmony of the locker room. If you have never acquired good additional players, there will never be a competition. There would be no room for difficult conversations, but there would also be no motivation for improvement. And that may be the underlying impetus for this Peters signature. Of course, it offers the possibility of playing the right guard, replacing Brandon Brooks – but it also puts a little heat on the starting point of Dillard in the left tackle.
Remember, reports of Dillard’s first season in Philadelphia were not excellent, and the nature of the concerns considered his competitiveness. As Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice and BGN Radio shared, Dillard’s mindset doesn’t seem to take the rigors of Philadelphia, with its energetic fan base and noisy locker room, and does not necessarily translate into aggressive Philadelphia offense play. was expected.
That he was bad in 2019. The anchor is a problem, the lack of aggressiveness, is not a “dog”.
– Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) April 23, 2020
The anchor problem was carried over from his band from Washington State, and it was something that Dillard should work on any landing point in the NFL. But if he doesn’t work, fight or grow like Philadelphia expected him to fix his technical problems, then they would be inclined to cut their losses and continue when they could still draw some thing of value of their choice. That could very well be the reason why Dillard would have been “suspended” on the trading block this year – because Roseman and the Eagles do not see how he finds himself a quality player in Philadelphia.
But without takers, they are now trying to give him additional motivation to improve, in the form of an alternative if he had to fight as he did last year: namely Peters. And the difficult truth of the matter is that, whether intentional or not in the re-signing of the Peters by the Eagles, it is now the perceived reality of Peters’ return: that it is a referendum on the potential of Dillard.
So the Eagles have a problem with Dillard, and they may or may not try to solve it with Peters – but it definitely looks like it, even if they don’t admit it. This is probably Dillard’s reading of the situation, and if the Eagles did not intend to send him a message, he will react to it anyway. If he succeeds and improves, all the more power for him – the Eagles desperately need him to strike, given the luxury they have enjoyed having an elite offensive line for the duration of the young career of QB Carson Wentz. And if he doesn’t, we’ll see Jason Peters in the left tackle again at some point this season.
