Jason Raynard Peters (born January 22, 1982, Queen City, Texas) is an American football offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He was signed by the Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2004, originally as a tight end. He played college football at Arkansas.

Peters was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

[edit] College career

Originally recruited as a defensive tackle, Peters spent his freshman campaign as a reserve defensive lineman. He was then moved to the tight end spot, where he caught four passes for 37 yards as a sophomore. In his junior year, Peters registered 21 catches for 218 yards and four touchdowns, which earned him a second-team All-SEC selection.

[edit] Professional career

[edit] 2004 NFL Draft

A fairly athletic tight end at more than 320 pounds, Peters was seen as "a clone of former Denver Broncos giant Orson Mobley."^[1] Since he registered far more knockdown blocks (61) than catches (21) in his last year in college, Peters spent much time prior to the 2004 NFL Draft working O-line drills, commending himself as an offensive tackle for the NFL. He was projected as an early fourth round pick by Sports Illustrated,^[2] but eventually went undrafted.

[edit] Buffalo Bills

Peters was picked up by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted rookie free agent in April 2004. He was cut then re-signed to the Bills' practice squad. He was signed to the active roster on November 12, 2004.^[3] Peters made his mark on special teams as a feared wedge buster on kickoffs and as a blocking tight end, while beginning to learn to play offensive tackle under the tutelage of offensive line coach Jim McNally.

In 2006, Peters beat out former Texas star Mike Williams for starting right tackle on the Bills. Peters was rewarded for his play, signing a 5-year, $15 million contract extension with the Bills in the offseason.

In 2007, Peters began the season entrenched as the starting right tackle. After Week 7, the Bills reshuffled their offensive line to better protect quarterback J. P. Losman. Peters was moved to left tackle, replacing Mike Gandy who moved inside to left guard.

After the 2006 season, Sports Illustrated 's Paul Zimmerman debated selecting Peters to his All-Pro team. "I was rooting for the Bills' Jason Peters, whom I would have loved to pick, but he isn't there yet. Very athletic, but not enough of a roughneck." ^[4] Peters allowed only two sacks in that season and was not called for a holding penalty. ^[5]

In 2007, Peters saw his best years as a pro, to date, and was selected to start at left tackle on the AFC Pro-Bowl team. It came after an overall dominating season, and was very little surprise to many around the league. As offensive line coach Jim McNally put it, "His ability is limitless." He injured his groin in a game against the New York Giants, and was unable to attend the Pro Bowl game. He was the first Bills offensive lineman to make the Pro Bowl since Ruben Brown in 2003. Joe Thomas was selected to replace him in the Pro Bowl. ^[3]

At the beginning of the 2008 offseason Peters was unhappy with his contract and did not report to any of the Bills offseason workouts including the teams' mandatory minicamps. Head Coach Dick Jauron has said that he will be fined and will even be taken out of the lineup if he doesn't show.

"I thought Jason would be at our mandatory minicamp, but that’s a decision he’s made and he’ll be fined,” Jauron said. “I wish he was here, obviously. But also on the flip side of it, for me, I have lots of other things going on. The guys that are here are working really hard, so we’ll work with those guys.”

Fueling Peters' angst is that he is only the third-highest paid offensive lineman on the team despite being the Bills' only Pro Bowl blocker. Before the 2007 season, Buffalo gave two sizable contracts to free agent offensive linemen. Left guard Derrick Dockery was lured away from the Washington Redskins with a 7-year, $49 million contract with $18 million signing bonus, the third largest in NFL history at his position. Right tackle Langston Walker came in from the Oakland Raiders, signing a 5-year, $25 million contract with a $10 million bonus. When comparing Peters to players on other teams, the Seattle Seahawks' left tackle, Walter Jones, the NFC's starting left tackle in last year's Pro Bowl, is under a contract signed in 2005 for $50 million over seven years. However, it should be noted that Jones was a five time pro bowl selection prior to signing his 2005 contract while Peters has been selected to only one pro bowl.

Peters reportedly wants a contract between $8 million and $11.5 million per season in a contract extension. ^[6] According to ESPN.com, Jason Peters is the 2nd highest rated left tackle in the video game Madden 2009 with a 97 rating (Joe Thomas is 1st). Peters was rated an 87 in the 2008 version.

On July 25, 2008, the NFL Network's Adam Schefter reported Jason Peters would not report to the Bills' training camp at Saint John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y. Schefter also said Peters was willing to sit out the entire season to get a new and improved contract. ^[7]

On August 20, 2008, training camp for the Bills came to an end with Peters being absent for the whole camp and all of the preseason games. On August 21, 2008, the Bills signed rookie tackle Dustin Dickinson to help Langston Walker fill the void. On September 5, 2008, Jason Peters ended his holdout and returned to the Buffalo Bills. Peters was fined over $560,000 for missing all of training camp, but if he had missed a regular season game, he would have been fined $191,000 for each game he missed.

Jason was selected as the starting left tackle in the Pro Bowl and was a Second-team All-Pro although his 2008 season was subpar and some thought the Pro Bowl selection was dubious.^[8] In 2006 he allowed only two sacks and allowed six sacks in 2007.^[9] In 2008 Peters allowed 11½ sacks—tied for worst in the NFL among starting left tackles.^[10]

[edit] Philadelphia Eagles

Peters had been unhappy with his contract and hadn’t been attending the Bills’ offseason activities after staging a holdout in 2008 during training camp. Due to the dispute with the Bills they went ahead and traded the unhappy Pro Bowler to the Philadelphia Eagles on April 17, 2009. The Eagles acquired Peters from the Bills for the 28th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. The Eagles also sent a fourth-round pick (121st overall) in the 2009 NFL Draft and a late conditional pick (6th round) in the 2010 NFL Draft.

On April 17, 2009, the Eagles announced they had signed Peters to a six-year contract for $60 million that will keep him in Philadelphia through 2014. Peters had two years left on his last contract, so Philadelphia had essentially torn up the last two seasons and given him a new contract.^[11] Head coach Andy Reid added, "Jason Peters is the best left tackle in football. He is a powerful and athletic tackle and I have admired his play over the last few years on film."^[11]

Peters was selected to the 2010 Pro Bowl as a starter.

[edit] Scoring plays

• Punt block recovered for a touchdown during the 2004 season vs the Cincinnati Bengals.
• Caught first career touchdown pass from J. P. Losman against the Houston Texans in the first game of the 2005 NFL season.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Philadelphia Eagles bio