An honest assessment of Jason Peters from Jeff Stoutland

Jason Peters will, no doubt, go down as one of the most beloved Eagles in team history, but he’s been the subject of some debate recently.

The 2017 calendar year continues to fly by. We’re already halfway through the month of June, and that means two things. OTAs are almost a distant memory, and minicamps are the new topic of discussion. The voluntary nature of organized team activities allowed certain members of the Philadelphia Eagles to go M.I.A. with no consequence, most notably Jason Peters.

Now, with mandatory minicamp underway, the team will get one more week of work in. This is the last phase of their Spring workout program, and this will be the last time we see the Eagles on the field until training camp officially begins on July 24th. Expect there to be a few cameras in the face of Peters when he arrives as some are still curious why one of the most important, most experienced and most wealthy members on the team never found his way to OTAs. Yes, it was voluntary, but shouldn’t he have set an example to the younger Eagles by showing up?

What does his position coach think about Peters’ decision?

As minicamp began, position coaches hung out with the Philadelphia media for a half-hour or so each. Jeff Stoutland, as most of you know, is the Eagles’ offensive line coach, and he wasn’t too bothered by the big guy being absent.

"This is all voluntary. I love coaching Jason Peters. Selfishly, I’d love him to be here, but I think he’s played this game long enough that he knows… How many times can you kick slide on a defensive end? He knows the angles he has to take… He has it down pat. That’s why we have the ability to use the ‘pitch count.’"

What exactly does he mean by ‘pitch count’ you ask?

Stoutland elaborated a little earlier in the discussion about what the ‘pitch count’ was. It’s about weighing reps in practice versus the possibility of adding unnecessary wear and tear on Peters’ body.

"The plan to manage, like a pitch count, how many plays he actually gets during the course of a week during camp was thought out, and to be honest with you, since I’ve been here, he had his best year. I think he was fresh all the way through the entire season."

Missing time and reps:

Some would say the big guy needs to present and take advantage of the extra reps. After all, he did lead the league in false starts a season ago. Then again, it may not be that big of a deal. This is a guy who’s been on this team for quite some time. He’s seen three coaches during his tenure in Philly. To that point, Stoutland was equally as candid.

"I think it’s a rhythm and you need to practice it…All these things need time to be practiced on, and we’ll have plenty of time. We do all that stuff in all of our individual drills that we do with the offensive line, we do with the snap count."

So is there a reason to worry or to be upset?

For those of you that wonder whether or not this will affect his conditioning or whether or not you have to worry about Peters showing up out of shape, it appears that won’t be a concern. Here’s what Stoutland had to say:

"He’s never had an issue with conditioning. Never. When he was practicing, and we limited some of his reps last year, but even with that said, he would go harder than anybody else when you watch him in all the drill work that he does. He’s a professional and he understands what it takes. He’s been doing this for a long time…I would show some of the young players, ‘Look how he does the drill. He’s done this for 13 years, and look at the tempo of the drill. I don’t have to say a word to him. I don’t have to push him. Just look how fast and hard he’s going.’ Boom, he gets his reps, and then I sit him down."

With all of that being said, meeting adjourned.