As we begin to wind down our look at the pivotal players who will be counted upon to make an impact this year, we turn our attention to offensive tackle Jason Peters. The 6-4, 340-pound Peters earned his third straight Pro Bowl nomination in 2009 in his first year with the Philadelphia Eagles. Peters was a rookie free agent signing of the Buffalo Bills in 2004 and was traded to the Eagles just prior to the 2009 draft.

1. After spending the first five years of his career in Buffalo, Peters got to experience what the playoffs were like for the first time in his first year with the Eagles. "It felt good just to get a taste of the playoffs, even though we got knocked out in the first round," Peters said. "It felt good with the atmosphere and to be back home in Texas (born and raised in Queen City, Tx.) playing in my first playoff game."

2. And even though he was in Buffalo for all of those years, it wasn't until his first offseason in Philadelphia when he decided to partake in the offseason conditioning program under the watchful eye of first-year strength and conditioning coach Barry Rubin. "I'm always going to work; never get comfortable,"" Peters said. ""I'm always going to bring it day in, day out. You have to put in the work here as you build up for the season. By the time training camp and the season rolls around, we're going to be hitting on all cylinders."

3. Peters was originally signed by the Bills as a rookie free agent out of Arkansas as a tight end. In fact, he has two career touchdowns. One came in 2005 against Houston on a reception. The other was after he blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone against Cincinnati in 2004. It will be interesting to see whether Bobby April, the Eagles' new special teams coordinator, will find a way to utilize Peters again. April was the Bills' special teams coordinator from 2004-09.

-- Posted by Chris McPherson, 12:45 p.m., July 20