The Chicago Bears had an eventful afternoon on Saturday. Justin Fields delivered on some fo the hype that has been building for weeks. He finished 14-of-20 for 142 yards and a touchdown. He also added a rushing touchdown. With his help, the Bears overcame a 13-0 deficit to eventually beat the Miami Dolphins 20-13. A great feel-good moment for fans seeing their first live game at Soldier Field since 2019. Then literal minutes after the final whistle sounded, news dropped that the team had signed Jason Peters.
It was a bit of a surprise. The Bears had been utterly silent in regards to scoping out available tackles despite three key members of the position being out with injuries. Teven Jenkins with a back, Germain Ifeid with a hip, and Larry Borom with a concussion. Was the team prepared to risk approaching the regular season with none of them 100%? It appears not as the six-time All-Pro joins the team with just under a month to go before the season.
So what exactly are the Bears getting?
Rest assured this is not the Peters of 7-8 years ago. He’s 39-years old. While there is no question the man will be in the Hall of Fame one day, it is important to know the Bears aren’t getting that guy. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune reached out to a couple of evaluators from other teams. Their assessments of the signing were, shall we say, blunt. Chicago isn’t getting a solution. They’re getting a stopgap.
“No chance he plays 17 games,” one pro scout said Saturday night. “He doesn’t have much left in the tank at this point but he was a freak of nature earlier in his career. An absolute freak. He’s probably a low, low-end starter at this point at left tackle. He just gets beat too often. But Peters can probably be a bridge for them. What he does is he buys them some more time to figure out what they’re going to do there or what’s happening with the young guy they have.
“He’s still really strong and wide, but what’s declined is his recovery and his agility. So athletic guys can work him on the edge and give him problems that he didn’t have when he was younger. He’s still very powerful, very strong, so he can help in the running game.”
Added one general manager via a text message: “There are just no O-linemen out there right now. Don’t know where he’s at physically right now, but if the last few seasons are an indicator, he’ll probably struggle to hold up for the long haul.”
It seems the opinion is shared.
Peters is a short-term solution. Somebody who can hopefully buy the Bears enough time to get Jenkins and Borom back healthy and practicing. Then they can re-evaluate the situation moving forward. The idea that Peters, who hasn’t played a full season since 2018 will manage 17 games at his age? That seems exceedingly optimistic. For now, head coach Matt Nagy made it clear he will be competing for the left tackle job.
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Jason Peters can still help if the Bears are smart
If Nagy plans to throw the football constantly with Andy Dalton or Justin Fields? Then this signing may not have been the wisest. As the evaluators above said, his mobility and quickness just aren’t what they used to be. A big reason for this is the array of lower body injuries he’s suffered. In 2017 it was a knee, in 2019 it was a knee again, and last year it was a foot problem. This isn’t even counting the Achilles rupture he suffered back in 2012.
Those sorts of things can pile up on the human body. Even one as remarkably resilient as Jason Peters’. A lot of Bears fans no doubt are probably getting Orlando Pace vibes from this move. The team signed the Hall of Famer back in 2009. By that point, he’d been a shadow of the player he was in St. Louis. Peters is five years older than Pace was. So yeah, it’s easy to understand why some are skeptical of this move.
That said, the comments about his run blocking hold true.
Philadelphia finished 9th in rushing last season and Peters was a big contributor to that. If the Bears maintain their commitment to that outside-zone scheme, then the left tackle should fit perfectly. David Montgomery, Damien Williams, Tarik Cohen, and Khalil Herbert could find it fruitful running behind him and Cody Whitehair. Here is hoping it all works out.
