Philadelphia Eagles: The Case for Cutting the Cord on Kelce and Peters

There are many tough decisions facing the Philadelphia Eagles this offseason, one of those is what to do about the offensive line.

The most important collective trait an offensive line, as a group, can have is cohesion. Individually, talent is key. Talent will get you drafted. Talent will win you individual battles in camp. Talent makes you big money in free agency. For an individual’s success, talent reigns. For a unit, however, cohesion is paramount.

We saw it this past year for the Philadelphia Eagles. Their offensive line featured veteran talent at each position: five guys starting and completing games. In turn, the Eagles started the season 3-1. Then Lane Johnson‘s suspension started. His replacement, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, got off to a slow start against the Redskins on the road before settling down and turning in some solid performances before going down with his an MCL sprain. Before season’s end, the Philadelphia Eagles would start 5 different guys at right tackle. They would start three different left guards. Two different right guards, and two centers. While the Eagles started 3-1, the team finished 4-9: in no small part because of the moving pieces up front on offense.

So why am I about to argue the case FOR moving on from two Pro Bowl offensive lineman?

Hold please, while I take my last breaths on this hillside.

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Jason Kelce has been an incredibly solid for the Philadelphia Eagles. He started all 16 games his rookie season. He anchored an offensive line that saw LeSean McCoy win the NFL rushing title in 2013. Kelce’s speed & agility, paired with Chip Kelly’s offense, was a match crafted in zone-read heaven. Kelce would make the Pro Bowl in 2014 and was, arguably, the best center in the NFL for a period of about 24 months. Then the NFL figured him, and Chip Kelly, out.

Following his sports hernia surgery, Kelce just wasn’t the same. While he was still garnering nationwide attention, local fans saw his flaw. He was unable, given his size, was ill-equipped to hold up against bigger-bodied defensive tackles. Once defensive coordinators started attacking the A-gaps, Kelce had a difficult time working his previous magic. He is now preparing to enter his seventh NFL season: one in which he will turn 30 in November. He is undersized for the new offensives scheme that calls for a blend of gap & zone read schemes. He is overpaid given his play: counting for $6.2M against the 2017 salary cap. Perhaps even worse for him, the franchise is incredibly high on the versatile interior lineman who just completed a very successful rookie season in Isaac Seumalo.

The “other” Jason has an even more impressive list of career accomplishments. Jason Peters just completed his 13th NFL season. He has made 9 of the last 10 Pro Bowls: missing only 2012 when he was injured. He has twice been a first-team, All-Pro tackle. He has started an unbelievable 159 out of 208 games in his career. He has been, undoubtedly, the rock of the Eagles offensive line each and every season he has been with the franchise. He is a locker room leader and he is the granite-carved epitome of the word: professional.

Unfortunately, he is also not a part of the long-term plan for the team. He is due $11.2M next season: $9.2M of which the Eagles could save by moving on. It has been widely reported the Eagles have asked Peters to take a pay cut. Front offices don’t do that unless they are prepared to cut the player should he refuse. Similar to Kelce, the franchise believes it has Peters’ successor on the current roster. Unlike Seumalo, Lane Johnson can’t be trusted given his (alleged) affinity for PEDs.

So where’s the argument for moving on? Again…continuity. Neither of these guys are a part of the long-term plan for this franchise. Neither of them will be with the team when they make a playoff push: not a serious one, anyway. Whether it be this offseason or next, the team will move on. There is no compelling reason for keeping Kelce that I can see.

The singular compelling reason, in my opinion, for keeping Peters is that he is a more trustworthy option for protecting Carson Wentz‘ blindside than anyone else on the roster. Does Lane Johnson have the ability to do this? Absolutely. Is he trustworthy? Not really. But he’s going to be doing this job soon. Whether it be 2017 or 2018, he is going to get a chance to be the left tackle of this team: so you may as well throw the trust factor out. Vaitai, like Seumalo, played at a serviceable level last season when he got the opportunity. The offensive line of the future needs a chance to gel. It may be too early to tell if Vaitai is the right piece at RT, but he played well enough to get the chance to grow with the OL.

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With the money the Eagles would save in cutting the Jasons, roughly $13M, the team could be a more significant player in free agency than otherwise. Kelce, in my opinion, is gone. If Peters were to take a pay cut, it wouldn’t save the team half this much in cap space this offseason. What would you do with that money to upgrade the roster? Put it toward re-signing Bennie Logan? Move it toward an impact WR for Carson to target? Use it to target a starting cornerback: which would be their only one on the current roster, by the way. What’s the drop off from Peters-Kielce-Johnson to Johnson-Seumalo-Vaitai? Does it counterbalance the additions potentially just described? I don’t believe so. You?

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