A story recently that the Eagles won't be able to re-sign contract-year tight end Trey Burton. The Eagles made him an offer, reportedly, that Burton "didn't consider serious." Most likely it was for No. 2 type money, understandable since the Eagles have Zach Ertz. Burton probably sees himself as a No. 1, and that's going to have to happen somewhere else.
Burton's 2017 production when Ertz missed time, and his importance in throwing the critical trick-play touchdown in Super Bowl LII, speaks for itself. But in fact, Burton has been pretty solid when given a chance to start even before this season.
Since 2015, Ertz has missed all or most of six games. When Burton stepped in, he put up very good numbers. Projected over a 16-game season, his numbers wouldn't have been far behind Ertz's last season (74-824-8).
| BURTON IN LEADING ROLE, 2015-2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Site | No | Yds | TD |
| 2015 | at Det. | 2 | 49 | 0 |
| 2016 | at Chi. | 5 | 49 | 1 |
| 2016 | Pitt. | 2 | 19 | 0 |
| 2017 | Den. | 2 | 41 | 1 |
| 2017 | at Sea. | 4 | 42 | 0 |
| 2017 | at LAR | 5 | 71 | 2 |
| Avg. | 3.3 | 45 | 0.8 | |
| Proj. | 53 | 723 | 11 | |
Certainly some of his production might be due to a tight-end friendly passing game. There's no guarantee Burton could go to say Oakland and put up starting-caliber receiving numbers. But it will be very interesting to see where he lands, and what he could do as a full-time starter.
--Andy Richardson