Jason Peters was Pro Football Focus’ #1 offensive tackle in 2011 and by a large margin, dominating as both a run and pass blocker. However, he tore his Achilles in 2012 and missed the entire season. He came back in 2013 and he wasn’t the same player, but it would have been hard to be as good as he was in 2011 regardless. His season was still very impressive, especially for someone coming off the kind of injury he was coming off of, as he graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 4^th ranked offensive tackle. He was also Pro Football Focus’ 13^th ranked offensive tackle in 2010 and 21^st ranked offensive tackle in 2009.

Peters already had one year worth 9.65 million dollars left on his deal and this deal adds 38.65 million dollars over 4 years to that original deal (with an extra 3 million available through Pro Bowl escalators). This deal is total 48.3 million over 5 years. Giving someone going into his age 32 season with this kind of injury history (he also missed 9 games from 2008-2011 and 2013 was his first 16 game season since before 2008) this kind of money might seem a little excessive, but he’s definitely more than deserving of this money at his best.

The average annual salary of 9.66 million is 6^th in the NFL, right ahead of Branden Albert, who got 46 million over 5 years this off-season as the open market’s highest paid offensive tackle. Peters is a significantly better player than Albert. Albert also got 25 million guaranteed, while Peters’ guarantee is just 19.55 million guaranteed, significantly less than Albert’s. It’s even less guaranteed when you take into account that about half of that (9.65 million) is money he would have gotten regardless of this extension as they would not have cut Peters going into his contract year.

It’s really only 9.9 million in new guarantees and the Eagles can get out of this as a 2-year, 19.55 million dollar deal for his age 32 and 33 seasons if they want to. His cash salaries for his non-guaranteed years in 2016, 2017, and 2018 are 8.3 million, 10.2 million, and 10.25 million respectively. They would probably not have been able to re-sign him to a deal with just 9.9 million guaranteed next off-season. This was a low-risk, forward thinking, and team friendly deal for a team to keep their incredibly valuable and incredibly talented blindside protector during what still seem to be his peak years.

Grade: A

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I like the idea of the Eagles re-signing Jeremy Maclin and cutting DeSean Jackson and his 10.7 million dollar salary. Maclin is actually the more versatile play maker and I think he can be a strong fit in Chip Kelly’s offense, though he’s yet to play for Kelly in a regular season game after tearing his ACL before last season. Injuries have been the problem for Maclin throughout his career as the 2009 1^st round pick has missed 21 games in 5 years in his career, including all of last season and has only once played all 16 games.

Injuries are a big part of the reason why he’s never had a 1000 yard season in his career despite frequently flashing top level ability. He’s come close with a 70/964/10 line in 2010 and a 63/859/5 line in 13 games in 2011, but he’s never crossed that threshold. I think he has a good chance to do so this year, should he stay healthy. When healthy, he’s a better receiver than Riley Cooper and I think he and a rookie receiver can replace DeSean Jackson for less money.

I like the idea of giving Jeremy Maclin a one year prove it deal and I think he could break out on this deal in 2014, but 5.5 million dollars is a lot of money on a prove it deal for an injury prone receiver who has never had more than 1000 yards in a season. He could definitely prove to be worth it, but I think they probably could have gotten him cheaper. Compare this to the 3.975 million dollars that Hakeem Nicks got from the Colts on a prove it deal and this seems like a small overpay. That’s slightly nitpicking though and he could definitely prove to be worth this.

Grade: A-

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This deal is part of the reason why the Eagles moved on from DeSean Jackson. They think they can replace DeSean Jackson with a healthy Jeremy Maclin and a rookie along with a bigger role for Riley Cooper. Cooper is getting 22.5 million over 5 years, though with only 9 million over 2 years guaranteed. I have a hard time seeing him getting that on the open market. A year ago, Cooper was the Eagles 4^th receiver and had 46 catches for 679 catches and 5 touchdowns in his career in 3 years since being drafted in the 5^th round by the Eagles in 2010.

He struggled to start the 2013 season as well, catching 8 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown in his first 5 games in a starting role, before breaking out down the stretch. Once Nick Foles came under center, it was a big boost to Cooper’s stats as the Eagles’ passing offense broke out and Foles liked to throw to Cooper more often than Michael Vick did. Cooper caught 45 passes for 810 yards and 8 touchdowns in his final 12 games including playoffs. The Eagles are paying a lot of money for a system player who, as of early October, was a non-factor as a receiver in the league.

I like the Eagles’ general direction at wide receiver this off-season, re-signing Jeremy Maclin, cutting DeSean Jackson and his large salary, and replacing him with a combination of a hopefully healthy Maclin and a rookie, but this is too much money for Cooper. This is the definition of buying high. The other angle here is that Cooper may have struggled to get as much money as he otherwise would have on the open market because of the comments he made last off-season and the potential locker room issues that signing him could cause. The Eagles’ locker room generally seemed to forgive and accept him, but it’s not clear if the rest of the league would feel the same way.

Grade: C

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