Adrian Fedkiw
Donnie Jones retired as a Super Bowl champion last week, but longtime Philadelphia Eagles tight end Brent Celek will not reportedly do the same.
But will he be in Eagles green next season?
The longest tenured Eagle and 33-year-old Celek plans on playing next season, according to a report by NFL insider Adam Caplan.
For those asking about #Eagles TE Brent Celek: I'm told that he still wants to play. He's on the books for $4m this season (final year on contract). Team has 5 TEs under contract, but only 2 have them have played in a regular season game (Celek, Ertz) for the team.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) March 6, 2018
Celek is a $5 million cap hit for next season and if the Eagles decide to cut him, it would save the team $4 million in salary cap space with a $1 million dead money value. I don’t expect Celek to see that money so the only way Philly would bring him back is if he’s willing to restructure his contract and take a pay cut, which he was willing to do last year. Celek has already received all of his guaranteed money. The Eagles are $10.4 million over the salary cap and have to shed that number before the new league year commences on March 14th.
The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Jeff McLane confirmed Caplan’s report.
Brent Celek said that he has no plans to retire. "Yeah I wanna play," the Eagles TE said via text message, confirming a @caplannfl report.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) March 6, 2018
If Celek takes significantly less money – I’m talking playing for the dead money amount of $1 million – I’d be alright with him returning. Blocking is not a strong suit of Zach Ertz and with Trey Burton most likely moving on elsewhere, bringing him back would be important for the multiple tight end sets. I also look for second-year tight end Billy Brown to get snaps next year, but blocking is a weakness for him as well.
Celek, who was selected by the Birds in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft, recorded a career-low 13 receptions for 130 yards last season.
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