PHILADELPHIA — Jonas Jennings was more than 700 miles away in Athens, Georgia, on Friday afternoon, hosting high school recruits in his role with the University of Georgia football team, when Jason Peters mentioned him.

It’s been 15 years since Jennings and Peters were teammates with the Buffalo Bills, and a long time since they last spoke on a regular basis.

Jennings’ football career ended 10 years ago; Peters is 37 and still kicking, now entering his 16th NFL season, and 11th with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The six-time All-Pro’s career is winding down. If that wasn’t clear, in April the Eagles traded up in the first round to draft Peters’ replacement, Andre Dillard from Washington State.

Peters is aware that his Eagles career has an expiration date, and it’s coming fast, yet a day rarely goes by at NovaCare Complex for training camp when Dillard isn’t glued to Peters’ side, picking his brain, learning from one of the best left tackles the NFL has ever seen.

“I tell him if he have any questions, come to me,” Peters said, “then if I see something out on the field he’s doing wrong, I fix it.”

Back in 2004, Peters was that rookie.

“I got a list" of mentors, Peters said. “One of the first guys who did it was Jonas Jennings. I have no idea where he’s at now.”

Well, Jennings is out there in Georgia, working as the SEC team’s director of player development, and he’s tickled to find out that Peters still remembers their time together in Orchard Park.

“To be honest with you, if I don’t get these calls, I’d never even know he was saying that,” Jennings said in a phone interview with NJ Advance Media. “That’s how you know it’s true love. We didn’t keep up over the years so I’m watching him all the time, but we didn’t keep up or hang out or anything like that, so for it to come out the air 15 years later, man, I feel honored.”

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Jennings still remembers seeing Peters show up as an undrafted tight end out of Arkansas in 2004, then wearing No. 48. He was released as a rookie and stashed on the practice squad, then signed back onto the team that November.

“The thing I could remember, man,” Jennings said. “The first thing was: Wow.”

It was then that Peters started learning how to play offensive tackle for the first time in his life from Bills offensive line coach Jim McNally, and Jennings took him under his wing.

He still remembers the exact moment when it clicked that Peters was special.

Back then, the AFC East was littered with elite, freakishly athletic pass rushers, and Jennings (and later Peters) had to block all of them from his left tackle position. That meant Jason Taylor with the Dolphins, Willie McGinest with the Patriots and Shaun Ellis with the Jets.

Speed was key.

“These guys are big and fast, so you gotta close the space on them,” Jennings said.

McNally emphasized the teaching (and practicing) of what are known as jump-sets.

The gist of a jump-set: They’re commonly used on play-action passes or three-step drops when the quarterback is getting the ball out quickly, with the goal being to get your hands on the defender as soon as possible.

After practice, Jennings would put in extra work on jump-sets, and Peters would always be there alongside him.

“When me and Jason used to stay after practice to work on this thing, he was trying to do this as I was trying to perfect it,” Jennings said. “I (saw) the kid close the space so fast, I remember thinking in my head, ‘If they leave him at tackle, he’s going to be great.’”

He continued: “I remember all the hard work, (Peters) staying back with me,” Jennings said. “He’s coming in and working his (butt) off after practice, after we’ve done a whole practice. And to stay back with a guy like me, I’m just trying to maximize being a pro heading into my free agency year. We (were) on the same rhythm. He wanted to be on the same schedule and it was love. It was love.”

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Jennings can understand what Peters is going through right now, tutoring someone who might eventually replace him. That wasn’t necessarily supposed to be Peters when they played together, even if it turned out that way.

Peters was a project, supposedly without much of a chance of ever starting in the NFL. In 2002, the Bills had drafted offensive lineman Mike Williams out of Texas with the idea that he’d eventually replace Jennings at left tackle.

That isn’t exactly what happened — Williams played right tackle before he flamed out by 2005 — but ultimately Jennings helped to groom the player who replaced him after he left as a free agent.

That’s what Peters is doing now with Dillard.

“Anything Andre can do to stay in Jason’s ear, pick his brain and watch him is just valuable,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said on Monday. “Then for (Peters) to coach him up when he’s not in there, just every little bit helps. Players sometimes see things a little differently, and they’re playing the game. It’s great information, and it’s valuable.”

Regarding the Eagles drafting his replacement, Peters said, “It don’t bother me none.”

“At some point, you’re going to get replaced anyway,” he said, “so you might as well help the guy.”

This is the same tune Jennings sung in Buffalo: Pay it forward.

“When Jason came in, I was heading into free agency,” Jennings said. “It’s past that. Regardless of your individual contract, you’re all playing for the same brand. So you’re only good as the next man, because a losing record, we all get connected to it. It was always reach one, teach one. I was just raised like that.”

He added: “You’ve got to look out for your guys, that’s my thing. If you got a guy coming in, might be on the practice squad, might be sixth, seventh round, you got a little bit more to give him, even though you ain’t got a lot … shoot, give it to him. That’s my thought. He’s right there with you. What is it going to hurt you? You’ll get good karma or something back, whatever you believe in.

“I still give the credit to Jason, who wants to be in there and do what it takes to be a pro.”

***

Peters is coming off two straight injury-plagued seasons. It started with a torn ACL in 2017 that cost him a chance at playing in his first Super Bowl. That injury lingered into 2018 — Peters admits that he came back too early — and led to a few other injuries, including a serious quad issue and a biceps injury, among other nicks and bruises.

Even so, Peters played in 18 games — counting the playoffs — even if he didn’t necessarily finish all of them. Most around the Eagles, including Pederson and offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, have expressed confidence that he’ll look more like the Peters of old in 2019, especially now that his knee 100 percent.

Maybe this will be his last season. Maybe it will come in 2020. He’ll be going out on his own terms.

“I’m going to keep rolling year after year,” he said, “until I feel like I can’t do it no more.”

Before he goes, Peters is making it a point to make an impact on the players he’s leaving behind. Namely, Dillard.

“They keep me young," Peters said, smiling, later adding that “all those guys look up to me and I know that and that’s why I try to go out there and lead them every Sunday.”

So, maybe, 10, 12, 15 years from now, Dillard will be the one talking to reporters about the time he spent learning from Jason Peters.

It all comes back around.

Just ask Jennings.

“When you’re just playing, man, having fun like I was, you never know who’s watching you,” Jennings said. “I was raised on ‘reach one, teach one.’ I was captain at Georgia, I’ve always been a peoples person. But when you go from amateur to professionalism, we have to help each other.

“Anytime you’re trying to teach some things, you want to see the impact,” he added. “Now look at him 15 years later.

“Not saying it’s my credit, but I knew the kid was gonna be awesome. I knew.”

Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at zrosenblatt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZackBlatt. Find NJ.com on Facebook.