Broncos Tied to 9-Time Pro Bowl LT Jason Peters by NFL Insider
In an offseason of substantial retooling, the rapid plugging of the glaring holes on the Denver Broncos' roster has strangely stopped short of adding some new blood at the offensive tackle position.
Denver fans have long lamented the struggles of incumbent left tackle Garett Bolles. The announcement that swing-tackle Elijah Wilkinson will compete for Bolles' starting job has hardly been received with much excitement or confidence in how it'll shake out.
GM John Elway recently balked at the cost of acquiring ex-Redskins' LT Trent Williams via the trade market during the draft, ultimately deciding to let the All-Pro slip into the hands of the San Francisco 49ers where he will fill the void left upfront in the wake of Joe Staley’s sudden retirement.
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer recently suggested that the Broncos do still have some solid interest in signing a road-tested LT. King also revealed that Elway could face stiff competition to acquire long-time Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro.
7) Jason Peters is still out there. And two AFC West teams with designs on contending—the Broncos and Chargers—are still in dire straits at left tackle. Denver has a former first-round pick (Garrett Bolles) who was on the block pre-draft, had his fifth-year option declined, and now will battle Elijah Wilkinson for the job. Wilkinson, a UMass product whom I had to Google, was undrafted the year Bolles came out. The Chargers, meanwhile, may be in an even more precarious position, with Sam Tevi and Trey Pipkins as contenders to start there. To me, that’s enough in each case to make the phone call to Peters, who is 38, and isn’t what he was, but can still play. Peters isn’t going to come cheap, but the Broncos have $24.2 million in cap space, and the Chargers have $21.0 million, and I think it’d be worth spending a chunk of that to create another option at a pretty important spot. The only issue? The only issue is the Eagles may have designs on bringing Peters back, so Denver and/or L.A. would have to move quickly.
Examining the Fit
Peters’ age and increasing injury concerns have resulted in a cool market for his services so far this offseason. However, the 38-year-old could still remain a viable option for the tackle-needy Broncos, even if his days as a truly elite NFL blindside protector are firmly behind him.
The 6-foot-4, 328-pound tackle still managed to start 29-of-32 games over the last two seasons; frustratingly he has been increasingly unable to finish games out. When he has been in the lineup, the nine-time Pro Bowler only gave up 21 QB pressures on 562 of his pass blocking assignments.
Some sources have placed a salary value of somewhere in the $7 million range on the head of Peters. Considering his proven track record and experience, that figure presents a relatively manageable number to squeeze under the Broncos remaining cap space.
Since fully committing to QB Drew Lock via the draft by providing him with a number of speedy targets, going into next season without at least an insurance policy to protect his blindside would represent a major and quite possibly unnecessary risk by the Broncos.
Up until last week’s news that Elway would not be picking up Bolles' fifth-year option, the Broncos have always remained stubbornly committed to turning their former first-round pick from Utah into a dependable NFL player.
Last offseason saw Mike Munchak arrive to coach up Bolles, but even under his teachings, the 27-year-old still struggled, only showing slight late-season improvement which coincided with the much more mobile Lock being inserted at QB.
Despite Bolles’ improvements, the slow realization has dawned on Elway that he didn’t want to fork out over $11M or commit long-term to a player who has struggled thus far in the league.
Peters might well, even as he approaches his 40s, still be the most logical fail-safe for Elway to now reach for. As Breer noted, the Broncos might well have a challenge for his signature from the similarly tackle-hungry Chargers, therefore any delay in moving for his services might see Elway miss out on a solid, high-value signing.
Some recent history points to the value of having a durable veteran to play LT. The Los Angeles Rams signing of long-time Cincinnati Bengals LT Andrew Whitworth back in 2017 is a perfect example of how signing an established veteran can solidify an entire O-Line unit.
Bottom Line
While Peters is older and has a lot less left in his tanks than Whitworth did at the time, finding a potential Hall-of-Famer as a vital safety net, if only for one season, could still make perfect sense.
Considering how badly Elijah Wilkinson played at times last season, when coupled with Bolles’ well-documented struggles, can Elway really afford to roll the dice on halting Lock’s development?
The worst-case scenario, of course, would be to see Lock get hurt and derail the entire 2020 season. Building around the prized signal-caller with explosive young talent is crucial to the Broncos' success and similarly keeping him safe by signing an old, grizzled bodyguard might turn out to be just as important as the season rolls on.
Follow Keith on Twitter @KeithC_NFL and @MileHighHuddle.
