COMMENTARY
Peters deserves a new deal
Updated: 08/04/08 6:37 AM
The Buffalo Bills have some choices when it comes to resolving the holdout of Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters. They can continue to send him text messages, maybe try to track him down on MySpace, or they can get on a plane, have themselves a face-to-face meeting and figure out what it’s going to take to get one of their most influential players back in uniform.
The organization can adopt the hard-line, 1960s stance that a contract is a contract, or it can wake up to the real world manifest most recently displayed in Green Bay, where running back Ryan Grant skipped seven days of training camp and leveraged his way to a deal that reflects his accomplishments.
The dispute involving Peters resolves around one fundamental question. Is he underpaid?
The answer: Yes.
So what are the Bills going to do about it other than hunker down in the corporate office and pretend that Langston Walker is a feasible stopgap?
Peters’ beef is legit. He’s scheduled to make $3.25 million plus incentives this year, decent money for sure for your average left tackle. But Peters is more than that. He’s the force responsible for protecting the blind side of the quarterback, which makes him 1-B when ranking the players most important to the success of the offense. Yet he’s being paid less than Walker ($5 million), less than Derrick Dockery ($7 million). As much as this is about money it’s also about respect. Your best offensive lineman ought to be paid accordingly.
Peters is a uniquely mobile athlete for someone of his size, which is how he came to make the transition from tight end to left tackle. His gifts explain why teams were moving quickly to sign him after he went through the draft unselected. Yes, he was a project, a raw talent in need of refinement. But the notion that he’s indebted to the Bills for mining his potential is pure folly. If the Bills are so adept at developing offensive linemen then how come their front five abounds with free agents? Can we give Peters some credit for what he’s become?
The contract Peters signed two years ago projected progress but failed to account for his runaway improvement. His learning and performance curves soar off the charts. The Bills had best get over the giddiness of having a Pro Bowl tackle under contract at well under market value and instead recognize that excellence warrants commensurate compensation. That’s good business, too.
Granted, there’s an obligation on Peters’ part to remedy the franchise’s concerns. It’s disconcerting that he’s yet to see team doctors since undergoing surgery for a sports hernia at the end of last season. It would be understood if the team demands the peace of mind of having him in camp before talking contract. But if the promise of a reworked deal is what it takes to get him in uniform, then the promise should be made, and kept.
The organization has taken a position on this matter contrary to its history. The Bills threw the money at defensive end Aaron Schobel after consecutive seasons in which he made the Pro Bowl, once as an alternate. They overpaid defensive end Chris Kelsay off one decent season, rewarded Terrence McGee with a deal that recognized him as a starting cornerback after less than one respectable season at the position. Peters has been here five years. He’s seen how it’s worked. So how is he in the wrong?
This loomed as the season a maturing Bills team would turn the corner, perhaps making it to the playoffs. An offensive line without Peters greatly diminishes that possibility.
There’s hope. First up on the preseason schedule: Jason Taylor and the Washington Redskins. Maybe that’ll be enough to get the organization to open its eyes — and its wallet.
