Jason Peters is willing to fill the Eagles’ left tackle void, but he wants a pay bump in exchange for moving back to his natural position (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). From here, the Eagles will have to weigh the benefits of having Peters step in for Andre Dillard versus the added cost. 
[RELATED: Eagles’ Andre Dillard Done For Year]
Peters would be an obvious replacement for Dillard in the wake of his season-ending biceps injury, but Peters gave the Eagles a discount with the assumption that he’d be playing on the interior, to replace Brandon Brooks. As it stands, Peters is under contract for $3MM in base pay, plus $3M in incentives tied to playing time. The package includes some easily achievable bonuses ($400K for 75% playing time), plus some trickier ones ($350K for 75% PT + Super Bowl victory; $1MM for 90% PT + First-Team All-Pro selection).
It’s not clear what Peters is looking for, but a compromise could be found by converting Peters’ entire incentives package into guaranteed base salary. But, even then, Peters would be playing at a tremendous discount for a starting-caliber left tackle.
While the 38-year-old has lost a step, he still turned in a solid 2019 – Pro Football Focus graded him as the league’s sixth-best tackle among 81 qualifiers in 2019. Peters is also planning to stick around for a while. His goal is to play for a few more years, joining Hall of Famers Jackie Slater and Ray Brown as the only tackles to play past the age of 40.
Crazy to see someone at that position play into their 40’s in today’s game. Love to see it work out for both sides.
Not just play, but play at an elite level at the toughest OL position. Very impressive
Smart mans. Has leverage
Leverage, after they plucked him off the couch and gave him a decent salary with incentives to make it even better. And this guy requires a solid backup anyway as he’s constantly coming off the field and can’t be relied on.
‘It’s not clear what Peters is looking for, but a compromise could be found by converting Peters’ entire incentives package into guaranteed base salary. ‘ Nothing more than verbage changing.
And this boys & girls is why the salary cap is a myth. The ability to alter the structure of any contract less than 60 days old to ‘fit their needs’.
Personally I could care less about the cap & the ‘ramifications’. At 30 some years old and not 1 instance of any team being over the cap shows its nothing more than an illusion.
You mean like the Broncos getting fined and losing picks for circumventing the salary cap via deferred payments?!?!?
This: The Broncos were fined on two separate occasions for salary cap shenanigans between 1996 and 1998. The first punishments were announced in 2001 and the second in 2004. Their fines totaled a staggering $1,918,000 and they lost a total of two third-round draft picks.
5-6 years later & a SB trophy to boot. They lost $2m & 2 3’s!!!! How will a team survive?? I’m willing to bet the team sent the $2m to charity and wrote it off.
Sarcasm aside, Any team would trade a couple mil, plus 2 three’s for a Lombardi. But you’re right, 1 time 1 team got busted for a salary cap infraction and had the commish’s finger pointing at them saying ‘stop it…please.’
Ironic that ‘dynasty’ teams end up trading away or releasing bonafide stars because of the mythical salary cap. Why split up a Super Bowl contender?
Ever hear of the NE Pats? They went on a 20 year run of greatness.
Pit, Seattle, & Baltimore (easy examples) are always competitive.
Wouldn’t no team being over the cap in over 30 years prove that the salary cap is real? All of these numbers are public. With the league being as competitive as it is, I’m sure if a team was over the cap, another team would notice and report it. I think accounting that happens without any real reporting throughout the year gets teams under the cap, and we just don’t hear about it because it’s so mundane.
To your later point, though, I agree $2M and losing two 3rd rounders is a tiny price to pay for a SB. But if you’re a GM and you don’t win the SB and you lose two 3rds for bad accounting, you run a high risk of getting canned. Two 3rds can get you a lot on the trade market.
Bad drafting & bad salaries cost GM’s their jobs no doubt. But the difference in revenue from 1995-96 to when fined, 2001 & 2004 is huge. I’m willing to bet $2m was earned by halftime of week 1. It’s like slapping me w/ a $5 fine.
You’re a player on a team. You agreed to play football this year for $3M plus another $3M in incentives. So now you’re going to essentially extort money from your employer by refusing to play a different position where there’s a need a week before the season starts unless you get more? Way to be a team player, Jason! Nice job. So when a backup QB has to finish out a season for an injured starter should he then demand a raise? Because he agreed to a $2M salary to backup and hold a clipboard. But if you expect him to have to start a game or two you better rip that contract up and pay him starter money! When a middle reliever has to fill the role of closer, should he immediately get a raise? Maybe Zach Britton should’ve asked for Aroldis Chapman’s $18M this year instead of his own $6M since he had to close for the Yankees for a while. Get out of here. NFL players are the biggest prima donnas of all athletes.
Sorry man, but that’s how negotiations work. Unlike the examples you cited, Peters is being asked to perform a completely different task than he was initially promised. He understands the dearth of quality left tackles on the market and is intelligently using the leverage to his advantage. If someone hired you to stock shelves and then asked you to also take on janitorial duties, you’d expect a raise as well
No sorry to you man but that’s not how negotiations work at all. Peters has a contract in place which he agreed to and not sure but it probably doesn’t have a position agreed to by both management and player that was agreed to by all. Also, he has missed 15 games over the last 3 years and if the Eagles are smart, then any pay raise would be tied to games played and started not just accommodating a request by a 38 year old former LT who probably wouldn’t last a full season anyway…..let’s say the Eagles would accommodate him….and following your logic about “the way things work” should the team be able to ask him to forfeit money if he wasn’t able to play an entire season at LT?
Not my team, but the Eagles would start a dangerous precedent on not only their team by on any team by acquiescing to this type of request regardless of need. Peters should be lucky he’s even getting a paycheck at his age and skill level.
Exactly. And when they plucked him off the unemployment line and gave him a decent contract with more in incentives they got him as this insurance policy and he signed it hoping to be on the field and not the sidelines. That’s exactly how this ended up working out. Every single player goes into camp hoping to come out a starter and he just did which makes reaching his incentives that much more likely of a guarantee.
That this guy used to play at a very high level is besides the pony, he’s already made a fortune on those contracts. At this point he’s very unreliable other than to be counted on to come hobbling off the field and missing action. Since they need an insurance policy for the insurance policy makes me wish they’d say thanks but no thanks, we’ll look outside the locker room for depth.
You demand a pay raise when your skills exceed the work you’re doing. JP is washed up and was barely worth the $3M the Eagles are paying him. Should’ve retired after LII, now he’s just overstaying his welcome in Philly.
So who’s to blame here: the player for not retiring after the Super Bowl he DIDN’T play in? That he didn’t give up on the dream of playing professional football?
Or management who continued to rely on a guy who was physically breaking down?
If the guy wants to play football and someone’s willing to pay him, that’s his fault?
Who made you president of the welcome committee?
Peters said today that he’ll be moving to LT. No notation of additional recompense to Mr. Peters.
Matt Pryor will take RG until whatever time that Brooks will be back