Philadelphia Eagles: 5 reasons signing Jason Peters was a good idea

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If Andre Dillard struggles, Peters is the ultimate backup the Philadelphia Eagles could turn to.

Whether the Eagles want to admit it or not, the organization is not 100% sold on last year’s first round draft pick Andre Dillard moving forward. He looked shaky at times last year, his mental toughness came into question at points, and reports even surfaced about the Eagles using him as potential trade bait during this year’s draft.

If Dillard proves to be an absolute disaster protecting Wentz’ blind side this season, the Eagles now have a 9x Pro Bowler and 2x All-Pro to turn to in Peters.

Dillard was selected with the 22nd overall pick during the 2019 NFL draft, and most analysts viewed him as a “steal” for Howie Roseman and the Eagles. Dillard was coming off a dominant final two years in college for Washington State, where he started 26 consecutive games at left tackle. Dillard was named First-Team All-Pac-12 to cap off a stellar senior season.

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Despite boasting a pretty solid collegiate resume, Dillard saw limited action in 2019. He looked decent enough when he subbed in at left tackle, but he got absolutely shredded when he started at right tackle in week 10. Eagles coaches seemed noticeably frustrated with how poorly that went.

Now there’s something to be said about having your rookie play out of position being a bad idea, but it’s also clear the Eagles front office has slowly started to sour on Dillard as a “franchise” left tackle moving forward.

Dillard is currently set to be the day one starter at left tackle, however if he’s allowing pass rushers to crush Wentz on the regular, the team will quickly turn things back over to the proven talent in Peters.

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