The Eagles have lost one of their most important offensive players likely for the season.
Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters ruptured his right Achilles tendon while doing some off-season training in his hometown Queen City, Texas and will have surgery Tuesday at the Rothman Institute in Philadelphia, the Eagles announced Friday afternoon.
The Eagles gave no timetable for Peters' return but this type of injury often has a long recovery period.
"We all know how much Jason loves to play the game and how much he was looking forward to the start of the 2012 season," said Eagles head coach Andy Reid. "Jason is one of the best, if not the best, offensive tackle in the NFL. We don’t know when he will return to the field and we will not speculate on a timeline. We are just going to let the surgical process and the rehabilitation process play itself out."
The 6-foot-4-inch, 328-pound Peters was named to five consecutive Pro Bowls and was named an All-Pro last season for the first time.
The Eagles had hoped to have their entire offensive line together protecting Michael Vick next season but that now seems impossible.
"We thought we were going to have some cohesion going on, but thus is football," starting center Jason Kelce told the Daily News. "There's a lot of different things they can do. Howard (Mudd, the o-line coach) is coming back in next week. I'm sure he and Howie (Roseman, the general manager) will sit down and figure out what they need to do."
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Peters, 30, is a key anchor to the Eagles offensive line. King Dunlap, who was re-signed earlier in the day Friday could be the front-runner to replace Peters on the Eagles line.
"(GM) Howie (Roseman) and I will sort out the roster situation for the offensive line. We are glad to have King [Dunlap] back as a part of our offensive line and we will continue to scan the free agent market, also knowing the draft is less than a month away."
Another possible target could be Bills free-agent tackle Demetrius Bell, according to Sports Final's Howard Eskin on Twitter.
#Eagles to Bring in Bills FA Left Tackle Demetrius Bell this weekend. Top FA L tackle out there. Son of Karl Malone
The 6-foot-5-inch, 307-pound tackle comes with his own injuries concerns though -- he missed time last season with a collar bone injury.
