Jason Peters confident he'll start at left tackle for Bears

Chicago Bears left tackle Jason Peter was on a fishing boat just two weeks ago. Now, the 39-year old is in line to start at left tackle in the Windy City.

“I wasn’t monitoring nothing,” Peters said of his free agent status, via the Chicago Sun-Times. “I was fishing when (Bears offensive line coach) Juan (Castillo) called me. I was just on a creek. My phone rang, and it was Juan. I was like, ‘Uh, oh. I know what this is.'”

Chicago had a question mark at the left tackle position after 2021 second round pick Teven Jenkins, who was expected to fill that role, missed training camp with back issues that he ultimately had to get surgery. Earlier this offseason, the Bears cut incumbent starter Charles Leno Jr. Castillo and the Bears decided to turn to Peters, who spent two different stints on IR in 2020 and played in just eight games.

Peters isn’t the elite athlete he once was, even Castillo can admit that. But Castillo hopes fine-tuning Peters’ technique will be able to make up for the dip in athleticism that made Peters a nine-time Pro Bowler.

“We’ll bring back the technique stuff that we did when we were together,” Castillo said, via NFL.com’s Kevin Patra. “I just showed him all the cut-ups when we were together and he was playing pretty good. Played square. If we do that, I think he’s going to be pretty successful. Like he said, ‘Juan, I’ve done it before. I’ll get that technique back again.'”

Castillo and Peters spent time together in their respective tenures in Philadelphia. Castillo was the offensive line coach for the Eagles from 1998-2010, before serving as Philadelphia’s defensive coordinator in 2011-2012. Peters played the majority of his career in Philadelphia, from 2009-2020, but just two seasons under Castillo’s tutelage.

In his career, Jason Peters made nine Pro Bowls, was a two-time First-team All-Pro selection and a four-time Second-team All-Pro selection. He won Super Bowl LII with the Eagles, though he played in just seven games that season due to injury. Peters was selected to the NFL 2010s All-Decade team.

Peters went undrafted out of the University of Arkansas. He spent three seasons at Arkansas, first as a defensive tackle, before moving to tight end for his sophomore and junior seasons. Peters worked out as an offensive tackle prior to the 2004 NFL Draft, but ultimately went undrafted and was picked up by the Buffalo Bills. In Buffalo, Peters spent two years learning how to play offensive tackle, and was made the starter in 2006. After five seasons in Buffalo, Peters signed with the Eagles.