Eagles lose another starter to injury

The Eagles are sitting at a dismal 0-2-1 record after some of the saddest football I have ever seen played by my beloved team. However when you start to really look at the state of the offensive line, especially now with the news that Jason Peters is headed to IR, it's not hard to see why Carson Wentz has been sacked 11 times in 3 games. 

Our first blow came before the teams could even return to the practice field when probowl guard Brandon Brooks tore his Achilles in June. Due to this injury the Eagles went out and signed former left tackle turned right guard Jason Peters.

Originally Philadelphia had moved on from Peters because he is nearing 40 years old, and known for missing time due to injury. typically doesn't amount to full games but a series here, a quarter there, etc etc. They had already drafted his successor in Andre Dillard in the first round two years prior. However it made some sense in a shortened offseason to reach out to a familiar player that knows the offense to step in and start. The logic seemed sound to me being that Peters is the longest tenured offensive lineman on the team. However the position switch didn't last long. 

About 2 months after the injury to Brooks the news came out that former first round pick and current starting left tackle Andre Dillard had suffered a torn biceps and would miss the entire 2020 season. Delay the Dillard experience one more year, giving him almost a medical redshirt in 2020 to be a somewhat positive spin on a rough situation. 

This brought up an interesting albeit brief situation that I had not foreseen when Peters resigned. You see, part of bringing Peters back to play guard was their desire to keep Matt Pryor in his role as a depth player and not the starting guard, but another part of it was the fact that Peters was now also the defacto backup left tackle behind Dillard as well. The situation was that Peters a guy who has played left tackle since 2004 when he was signed by the Bills, and was used to making on average $10 million a year for the past 11 seasons in Philly, but had signed for just $3 million to play right guard for the first time in his career. Quite the discrepancy in pay from one position and premise to playing that position to dictate that. That all changed when Dillard was hurt. Suddenly asked to slide back to the position he knows so well the 9 time probowl tackle politely asked for a pay increase. The Eagles wisely obliged and rewrote his contract. It went from $3 million guaranteed and $3 million in incentives to $4 million guaranteed, $2 million signing bonus and $4 million more in incentives. 

Peters started and played the majority of the first three games before leaving the week 3 tie due to a toe injury. Jordan Mailata came in to replace him. When this happened it left just Jason Kelce at center and Lane Johnson at right tackle as starters that played all of week 3. Isaac Seumalo, Andre Dillard, and Brandon Brooks, were all on injured reserve. Now with Peters also landing on IR, barring a move to sign a veteran the Eagles will head into week 4 with 3 guys who have started a collective 1 game unless the Eagles throw recent acquisition Jamon Brown to the wolves. Regardless this will already be the fourth intended starter that has gone on IR after just 3 games. 

Now this isn't to say the situation is without hope. The Eagles had already visited with Cordy Glenn the former Buffalo Bill, and Cincinnati Bengal. Glenn played left tackle to begin his career before moving to guard. Glenn had actually played guard more in college than he had played tackle but made the move outside when he was drafted by the Bills. He ultimately moved back to guard for a brief stint before an injury to Jonah Williams the first round pick drafted to replace him, caused him to go right back to left tackle. Signing Glenn at this point would give them another position flexible player like Jamon Brown who can play different spots when needed. This could prove important with the corona virus altered IR rules should the Eagles bring back one or more starters. 

Regardless I think Carson Wentz would feel a lot more comfortable walking into week 5 with Glenn at LT, Brown at LG, Kelce at C, Pryor at RG, and Johnson at RT. This would mean essentially the players expected to be backups outside of Pryor who was intended to be the next man up were still backups. They would have veteran guys at positions that protect our $100+ investments at the QB position, and developing players behind them on the bench where they need to be for now. No matter how you slice it the Eagles need to drum up depth quickly.