Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

printable version

Extra Points

Articles from around the Web

Need Help with KUBIAK or Premium?

blog advertising is good for you


30 Mar 2012

Jason Peters Ruptures Achilles

Uh-oh. Peters is set for surgery next Tuesday and is likely out for the entire season. In the past, this injury has always meant "out for the year," though I'm not sure exactly how many months the rehab takes. It is possible that since the injury was in March, Peters might be able to come back late in the season if the NFL passes the new "half-season IR" rules. My guess is he's out for the year, though. Jason Peters is very good. King Dunlap, re-signed as his backup, is not very good. Uh-oh.

UPDATE: Apparently, the new IR rules would only allow a player to come back late in the season if his injury occurred during camp. So, Peters is either PUP or out for the year.

Posted by: Aaron Schatz on 30 Mar 2012

21 comments, Last at 09 Apr 2012, 6:46pm by chemical burn

Comments

1
by ebongreen :: Fri, 03/30/2012 - 1:27pm

Well, that'll make drafting the offensive tackle class in Round One even more interesting. Do the Iggles trade up to catch Reiff or Martin, or just hope either falls to them? Do they have someone else on their radar?

4
by Dan :: Fri, 03/30/2012 - 1:49pm

The entire Eagles OL is signed long-term (through 2014 or longer), so I doubt that they use an early pick on it unless they think they're done with Peters.

16
by Dan :: Fri, 04/06/2012 - 1:00am

Well, I was wrong about that (even though they went for the top FA instead of a rookie).

LT Jason Peters signed through 2014 at $9M/yr
LT Demetress Bell signed through 2016 at $7M/yr
RT/G Todd Herremans signed through 2016 at $5M/yr
LG Evan Mathis signed through 2016 at $5M/yr
RG Danny Watkins signed through 2014 on $2M/yr rookie contract
C Jason Kelce signed through 2014 on $.5M/yr rookie contract

Peters is done with his guaranteed years, and apparently only the first year of Bell's contract is guaranteed, so I guess they'll have to decide between the two of them a year from now. Or maybe they hang on to all 6 starting linemen, figuring that injuries will give all 6 of them significant time in the starting lineup?

17
by chemical burn :: Fri, 04/06/2012 - 2:06pm

So... is Bell any good? Forgive me not knowing about a Bills o-lineman. I didn't know anything about Peters really before the Eagles brought him in other than that he was supposed to be an underachiever and some his Pro Bowl selections were supposedly dubious...

What's Bell's profile - I'd rather hear from an actual Bills fan than any of the media reports I've read about the guy... (for instance, something about him other than the fact that Karl Malone is his dad and a gigantic piece of shit.)

19
by Brandon (not verified) :: Fri, 04/06/2012 - 5:10pm

If he can stay healthy, I like Bell a lot and think he could easily outplay the contract. He's an excellent pure athlete for an OT that plays with good technique in the pass blocking game. He gets a bit high while run blocking at times, but he generally finishes plays and is good at using his long arms to get defenders back on their feet. The big concern, I think will be his health.

20
by Dan :: Sat, 04/07/2012 - 1:38pm

I haven't seen many Bills games, but what I've heard (from sites like Pro Football Focus) is that he looked good last year, but only played about 6 games worth of snaps because of injury, and he'd struggled in previous years. In his first year as a starter in 2009 he was pretty lousy (especially in pass protection), he stepped it up to mediocre in 2010, and then he played well in 2011 but in limited playing time.

21
by chemical burn :: Mon, 04/09/2012 - 6:46pm

Hm. I guess that's hopeful for a late round pick. Raw/bad his first year on a bad team. Better the next year, on the verge of good in 2011. Injury issues obviously don't bode well, but as far as developing o-line the Eagles do a fine job and get the best out of their players. I can't recall the last time they've had a guy totally wash out - maybe Winston Justice 1.0, but even in that 6 sack game it's over-stated how much he deserved the blame.

18
by chemical burn :: Fri, 04/06/2012 - 3:06pm

Also, i think their plan is probably to swing Bell to RT if Peters can come back next year and have Herremans compete for a spot with Watkins and Mathis (and, failing that, just play the role of A+ all-purpose back-up.) Watkins obviously struggled in 2011 and didn't come close to proving himself even if he worked his way into the starting line-up by the end of the season.

And, obviously, if Peters can't come back at 100% or gets tripped up by his injury, then they have a pretty darn good starting 5 already on the roster.

(All of this supposes that Bell will be good - which, again, will he? I genuinely have no idea.)

2
by The Voice (not verified) :: Fri, 03/30/2012 - 1:37pm

They're saying in Philly he's out for the year.

5
by Pat (filler) (not verified) :: Fri, 03/30/2012 - 2:02pm

There's literally zero reason not to put him on PUP, which would take us into what, October? So we literally won't know whether or not he's done for the year until then.

3
by tunesmith :: Fri, 03/30/2012 - 1:40pm

Demaryius Thomas ruptured his Achilles last offseason and was able to play for half the year, but on the other hand, that was Feb. 11th, and we're in late March. That's six or seven weeks difference.

7
by rich31689 (not verified) :: Fri, 03/30/2012 - 3:55pm

Not to mention, Thomas is 24, Peters is 31. Big difference in injury recovery time.

10
by Theo :: Fri, 03/30/2012 - 8:32pm

If you're for the rest healthy, then it doesn't make a big difference between being 24 or 31.
Thomas took about 7 months before being cleared.
Bigger difference is probably the weight of both men.

6
by Karl Cuba :: Fri, 03/30/2012 - 2:20pm

The issue for the Eagles is that Vick was pretty beaten up by mid season last year, with his best lineman looking to be out for quite a chunk of the season is this going to be more of a problem this year?

9
by bubqr :: Fri, 03/30/2012 - 6:35pm

The OL had 3 newcomers (2 rookies) and 1 player changing position last year - By the end of the year, it looked like a very good OL, and I think "on paper" this year's version was the best Eagles OL I've seen in a while, with 2/3 Pro Bowl level players, and 2 2nd year players including a 1st rounder. I'm really devastated by this news.

14
by Sisyphus :: Sun, 04/01/2012 - 3:25pm

Part of the issue with Vick is Vick. He has to move because of his height (and because he can) to get throwing lanes and he holds the ball which extends plays. It is hard to block for someone when you have no idea where he is going to be and when you have to block longer than most other teams have to. (See Steelers, Pittsburgh)

8
by Drunkmonkey :: Fri, 03/30/2012 - 4:31pm

Eagles have contacted D.Bell and told him that they will pay whatever it takes to get him to become the second Bills left tackle they've taken away from Buffalo.

11
by coboney :: Sat, 03/31/2012 - 5:34am

Operation: Rescue Tackle - Donate today to save your local Buffalo Bill!

12
by Dean :: Sat, 03/31/2012 - 2:02pm

They've also reached out to Marcus McNeills (sp?) agent.

We do know Philadelphia under Andy Reid will make whatever financial commitment necessary to field the best offensive line possible. They might not always succeed in this endeavor, but it won't be from lack of resource-allocation.

And given that Peters is 31 anyway, and given Reid's propensity to jettison aging players, it would not surprise me at all to see them move up in the draft in order to select an OT, say, Reiff. The only caveat to this is that their moves tend to be obvious in hindsight, not foresight. When they do trade up, it's because they see a player that they fall in love with (Graham, Andrews, etc.) not because they feel compelled to fill a hole. So there's arguments either way.

They do have the ammunition to move up, though. The #46 pick would probably be good enough to move up as high as they need to get Reiff. The 6th spot would be a stretch, but certainly anywhere from Jacksonville on down would be in reach, and the odds of multiple OL going in the top 6 this year are pretty slim.

13
by BigWoody (not verified) :: Sun, 04/01/2012 - 2:43pm

The Iggles at #15 might only need to jump past the Cowboys and the Cards (both likely to draft OL) and trade spots with the Seahawks at #12. A difference of 150 value points. Philly's 3rd round pick at #88 has 150 points value. Perfect fit.

15
by DavidL :: Thu, 04/05/2012 - 6:59am

The price to get Bell out of Buffalo: Five years, $35 million.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options