Eagles Ask Peters to Take a Haircut

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - In a long-expected move, the Philadelphia Eagles have already approached 35-year-old left tackle Jason Peters about tweaking his current deal, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.

The Eagles and particularly coach Doug Pederson want Peters to return in 2017 but his cap number of $11.7 million (scheduled to be the highest on the team) is untenable from the organization's perspective as they look to create cap space for the upcoming free agency period.

If Philadelphia releases Peters it would gain $9.7M in cap space.

The devil is always in the details, however, and at his current number, Peters is set to be the 11th-highest paid LT in football next season, hardly out of line for his current status in the game.

The plan from Pederson's perspective is to have Peters and right tackle Lane Johnson bookending the line while second-year players Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Dillon Gordon continue to work on their crafts outside the spotlight. If Peters is forced to move on, it creates a domino effect with Johnson flipping over to the left side and Vaitai likely stepping in at right tackle.

Peters was rated as the eighth best tackle in the NFL last season by ProFootballFocus.com and the sixth best LT so other than age, the Eagles don't have much empirical evidence that Peters should take a cut from his current number.

Furthermore, Eagles executive VP of football operations Howie Roseman spoke glowingly about Peters’ presence on the team at his season-ending press conference back in January.

“He has really ingrained himself as a leader of this football team,” Roseman claimed. “Anyone who watched us play saw the impact he has on the game. We certainly want to have him back.”

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen