Adrian Fedkiw
For Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson’s three tight end sets to work, the 13 personnel packages to flourish, you obviously need to have three capable tight ends to run it.
They haven’t had that the first two weeks due to injuries, but the depth at the position is already showing.
Trey Burton stepped up in the absence of starter Zach Ertz and caught five passes for 49 yards and a touchdown in the Eagles’ Monday Night Football win over the Chicago Bears.
Burton with the TE screen from the 2 for the score pic.twitter.com/Zz5xpj9056
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) September 20, 2016
Pretty much the same production as Ertz during Week 1’s victory over the Cleveland Browns. The former second-rounder, who missed Monday’s game with a rib injury, put up 58 yards on six receptions in the opener. Burton missed that game due to an injury.
Not much of a difference.
“I figured I’d play a little bit, but you never know how the game goes and what packages and plays coach is going to call,” Burton said. “Ertz wasn’t here and you see him all the time making plays, so someone had to step up and that’s what I had to do,” Burton said in an Alex Smith post for the team’s website.
Ertz has shown, however, a huge improvement in his run blocking during the preseason. Burton is still ways to go in that area, but catching the football is his strength. He’s proved how versatile he can be. He didn’t really have that opportunity before because in Chip Kelly’s up-tempo offense, it doesn’t allow for substitution packages. Burton caught just three passes last season.
He converted a pair of third downs against Chicago.
Trey Burton was a huge factor on third downs, here’s a pair from Eagles’ FG drive which trimmed the deficit to 7-6 in 2nd pic.twitter.com/VjeSnbDhBh
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) September 20, 2016
Just like the preseason, we saw Burton as a tight end and wide receiver, lining up all over the place on the field. The success translated and he could be a key piece moving forward.
Another weapon for Pederson to hide the deficiency at wide receiver perhaps?
“I think I did all right, but I think there are a lot of things I need to continue to improve to have a solid role in the offense. I think we played well at points, but there were other times where we had penalties and things that we have to get fixed, but overall I thought we did pretty good. It’s hard to win in the NFL. Everybody knows that. We’re just happy with where we’re at right now,” Burton said.