Philadelphia Eagles Chip Kelly loves what Brent Celek is doing
Philadelphia Eagles tight end Brent Celek (87) during warmups prior to playing the Carolina Panthers at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles defeated the Panthers 14-9. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
The Philadelphia Eagles have three TEs that Chip Kelly is more than comfortable with rotating in-and-out in Brent Celek, James Casey, and rookie Zach Ertz. Celek has unsurprisingly received the most playing time of the three, but he has only 11 receptions for 188 yards and two touchdowns this season. He had just one reception for ten yards last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly was extremely pleased with the job Celek did as a blocker.
From CSN Philly, “No, I think Brent, again, played an outstanding game,” Kelly insisted. “If you watch tape and watch how well he blocked, you know, really, specifically, you watch the last drive of the game, I mean, he was just moving people, and I really think he’s probably been the most underrated or underappreciated.
“I know from a coaching standpoint, Brent through six games for us has been fantastic, a warrior, just doing everything. Really helping in the blocking game, had some key catches on the screen. He’s come up with some really big catches during the season.”
Celek said himself that he is “probably having one of the better years” of his NFL career. The Eagles offense isn’t going to generate a ton of targets for one TE over the course of the season, and one thing that I’ve noticed is that the Eagles love going vertical with their TEs. Celek’s work as a run blocker has been up-and-down this year, and he’s never been a consistently great run blocker. But he does have a few games in the year where he plays at an extremely high level, and he was as good as it gets as a blocking TE on Sunday. Most of the targets are going to go to Ertz, who was drafted for a reason, as he is the best pass-catcher of the three (he can’t block, though).
Celek’s stats haven’t been off the charts, but he’s done a nice job of blocking and making plays in the passing game when called upon. Blocking in space is a big key in Chip Kelly’s scheme, and Celek has done his best work in that facet of the game.
You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter for more NFL updates and analysis @SorianoJoe. Be sure to like us on Facebook here and follow our site on Twitter as well.