The Eagles Want Jason Peters to Take a Pay Cut
According to Tim McManus, the Eagles have approached Jason Peters about taking a pay cut next season. I imagine the call went like this:
“Hey Jason, how would you like to make less money next year?”
“Oh man, as enticing as that offer is, I’m gonna have to laugh at you.”
Or maybe Peters started speaking too early and cut the Eagles off, since he led the league with ten – 10! – false starts last year. Still, he earned his Pro Bowl spot and has the semi-important role of protecting the team’s franchise player from getting ripped in half. Peters is scheduled to make $10 million with “a cap number of just over $11 million in 2018.” While that sounds like a lot for a man of his age, 35, you don’t really have a good, cheaper blindside tackle option that wouldn’t get Carson Wentz killed.
“You can ask [Peters] nicely to consider taking a pay cut. If he doesn’t, what are you going to do?” former agent Joel Corry told McManus. “You’re not going to release him and create another hole. You’d save $9.7 million on the cap, but would the ends justify the means with him? You really need him at this point.”
And while just about every person you can think of suggested restructuring Peters’ deal – from Jon Runyan to columnists to bloggers and other bloggers – the only person who needs to be open to it is Peters himself. He has all of the leverage, and unless the Eagles want to put a lot of metaphorical (and literal) pressure on Wentz, they’ll have to comply.