Philadelphia Eagles debates: What if Nate Herbig pulled a Jason Peters?

What if Nate Herbig told the Philadelphia Eagles that he wanted more money?

By now, you’re over it, and for all intents and purposes, you probably should be, as should we. Still, every time a Philadelphia Eagles fan looks at Jason Peters, it’s hard not to think back to training camp (which feels like it was three months ago) and not think about what some people that love the ‘Birds’ look at like one of the most selfish moves we’ve seen by an Eagle in a long time.

Oh, we’ll get to Nate Herbig in a second. It doesn’t matter though if we don’t set that story up with this one.

Okay Philadelphia Eagles fans, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane.

Think back to how you felt after last season. There were zeroes on the clock at Lincoln Financial Field, and once the reality set in that the Seattle Seahawks were moving on to the NFC Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs, two thoughts crossed your mind.

One was ‘Philly might have won if Carson Wentz played the entire game’. The other centered around all of the guys that wouldn’t be back. We knew one of those guys was Jason Peters. Free agency came and ‘The Bodyguard’ was allowed to walk. It’s cool. We expected that. He was too old now. It was beginning to show on the field, and he just cost too much money. Time passed. No one signed him. Then, Brandon Brooks got hurt.

With the Eagles’ first-round pick of 2019’s NFL Draft entrenched at left tackle, Peters got a phone call, and Philly reacquired him on July 17th. There isn’t a ‘Birds’ fan in the Delaware Valley or anywhere else on Planet Earth that doesn’t know what happened next.

If you’re Peters and his agent, yeah, you knew he was signing on to play right guard, but you had to know that he was also insurance if something happened to Dillard. If they wanted certain verbiage in his deal, the time to do so was at the negotiating table. Well, as you might expect, something, indeed, happened to Dillard.

Andre Dillard tore his biceps and was done for the season. ’71’ was asked to move back to tackle. He refused to do so unless paid more money (keep in mind the fact that this team has given him over $100 million during his time in Philly and they threw him a bone when no one else was calling). To make long stories short, he undermined his coaches and put himself above the team (again), but Philly caved, as they always do when it comes to this guy, because any time you create a monster, you still have to feed it.

Meanwhile, Zach Ertz has always been the team player, but he can’t get his deal done or anyone to talk about it. Not only that but half of the fan base wants to run him out of town for asking for what he feels like he’s worth.

Here’s the point if you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

We said all of that to say this. What if, when Jack Driscoll got hurt, Nate Herbig pulled a Jason Peters? What if he said that in order for him to play right guard, he needs to be given a salary comparable to other starting right guards? What if Matt Pryor said he wasn’t going in the game to relieve Isaac Seumalo until he got a pay increase?

Heck, how about this one? What if Carson Wentz got hurt and before Jalen Hurts or Nate Sudfeld said that, before they took the field for any game, they needed $32 million per season? After all, that’s what Wentz gets. Here’s what would happen. You’d be furious. So, if that’s the case, why does ‘The Bodyguard’ get a pass?

Some of you didn’t see the issue with what ‘The Bodyguard’ did. Hopefully, you see it now. Some of you may even say that these scenarios are ridiculous, but are they? If these guys did pull a Jason Peters would they be wrong? Jason Peters is one of the greatest Eagles of all time, but every time you look at him now, it’s hard to do so without shaking your head. Every time someone’s contract comes up, you have to wonder if they might follow the precedent set by the legend. To be honest, who could blame them if they did?