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The Philadelphia Eagles are moving forward with Jason Peters in place of the injured Brandon Brooks, but that hasn’t stopped fans and some analysts from questioning whether or not it’s a good fit.
Peters has openly discussed playing guard if it would extend his career and with Brooks lost for the season due to a torn Achilles, he’ll get the chance to prove his versatility once again.
Former Eagles great and Pro Bowl left tackle Tra Thomas gave his opinion on the matter again recently and told Bleeding Green Nation that “he’s concerned” about Peters making the adjustment.
“To me, he’s been in a left-handed stance for 14, 15 years now. And you’re going to say, alright, let’s switch over and we’re going to move you over to the right side and, oh yeah, we’re gonna bump you down to guard? I think that’s a big ask. Especially when you don’t have any preseason games, any warmup, you’re not going through OTAs, you’re not going through any of that. Training camp is going to be modified. So you’re pretty much going to go from, hey, let’s move you over to right guard from a couple practices and then now they’re just going to throw you in the live fire in a game. That’s a big ask, when you’re asking someone that’s been in a left-handed stance for so long.”
When asked if he was concerned about Peters having success at guard, Thomas was honest and forthright in his assessment.
“I’m feeling concerned. I’m really feeling concerned about throwing JP in there at right guard. Only because he doesn’t have any preseason games to kind of get ready. Now, are you really going to have guys going at him like that in practice? Because that’s what’s going to have to happen. You know, you can’t go from pitter-patter to now you’re going to get out there and it’s going to be full tilt against some of these defensive tackles that are going to be coming after you. So that means practice is not going to be like how it was before, where you could go out there and chill, you have a young rusher that’s not going to really challenge you. You’re playing a totally different position, so now that means you have to get challenged on the regular in practice.”
Thomas brought up a good point in the article and whatever apprehension the Eagles currently have should go away as he continues to work against the likes of Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Javon Hargrave, Malik Jackson, and others.
It also doesn’t hurt that Peters will be insulated with Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson both flanking his inside, allowing the former left tackle to ease into his position switch.
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