Days after Jason Peters‘ Cowboys visit, the parties agreed to terms. The 40-year-old left tackle will continue his career in Dallas, Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News tweets.
The former Bears, Eagles and Bills blocker will aim to fill the void left by Tyron Smith‘s injury. This will be Peters’ 19th NFL season. The Cowboys came into Labor Day holding the fourth-most cap space in the league (just more than $14MM). Some of it will go to Peters, who stands to play an important role in helping the Cowboys defend their NFC East title. Peters grew up in northeast Texas, making this a homecoming of sorts to potentially cap off a Hall of Fame career.
Not much of Dallas’ cap space, it turns out, will be needed for the time being. The team is giving Peters a ramp-up period, with CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson adding (via Twitter) Monday’s deal is a practice squad agreement. Since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the NFL to expand practice squads to 16 players, teams have increasingly used it as a way to add veterans ahead of promotions to the active roster. The Cowboys will be the latest team to take this route.
This transaction marks the third straight year in which Peters found a deal after waiting in free agency for months. He re-signed with the Eagles in July 2020 and joined the Bears in August of last year. The longtime Philly mainstay will now get to work on helping the Cowboys hold off an Eagles team that saw Smith’s injury strengthen its chances of winning the division.