Surprisingly, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly was very open yesterday when he was asked why he was attracted to former Houston Texans tight end/h-back, James Casey and how he plans on using him.
“I think the versatility that you can present to defenses is when you have a certain grouping in the game, there’s not only one thing you can do,” Kelly said. “I think the teams that have been successful doing it, you watch the Patriots line up Aaron Hernandez all over the place. Is he going to be a tight end? Is he going to be a receiver? Is he going to be a running back?”
“It makes it very difficult for the defense. They don’t know at the beginning of the play where people are going to line up and what they’re going to do. It keeps them on their toes. We want guys that can do that. You really get pigeon-holed when you have one-dimensional players. And when you do, it makes it a little bit easier for the defenses to go out there and understand what’s going to go on in certain formations.”
It wasn’t an accident that he started talking about the New England offense, where the only thing that’s been able to stop their two tight-end package has been the injuries to Rob Gronkowski. The Pats have been able to shred defenses despite not having a good deep threat amongst their wide receivers.
They do it by creating mismatches with their tight ends against linebackers and safeties. Brent Celek has proven he can be a good receiver, even though he had a bad year in 2012. There’s no doubt that Kelly plans on lining up Celek and Casey in two tight end situations and attack the pass coverage skills of opposing teams’ linebackers.
“We’re certainly going to use both of them in the game at the same time,” Kelly said. “There’s a lot of that going on in the league right now. You just look up the road at the Patriots using Gronkowski and Hernandez at the same time. I think the mismatches that they create, sometimes, they’re too athletic for linebackers and they’re too big for defensive backs. It’s a big man’s game, and when you can get big, athletic guys that can run, it’s our job as a coaching staff to put them in position to make plays.”
LOL Aaron Fernandez what team he plays for isnt he some unknown baseball product….? Ohh you mean Aaron Hernandez come dude i know people make mistakes but the F and H aren’t right next to each other in the key board either haha.
I agree though i would like James Casey as a Hernandez type of TE i also think they will use him as a WR on certain downs i think for some reason they stay with 3 TEs Celek, Casey, Harbor/Kasa/Kelce.
You can never have enough TEs.
Now do we keep 3 Rbs do we stay with 4-5 WRs.
Aarón Fernández Sorroche (born May 8, 1985 in Tarragona, Catalonia), is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for La Roda CF, as a midfielder.
If this is the Aaron Fernandez this article is talking about then the eagles are playing soccer and not North American Football.
(futbol) spanish for soccer. (futbol Norte Americano is American Football NFL)
maybe if Casey was being paid like Aaron Hernandez than I’d liked him but he is being paid like a top ten TE in the league. James Casey makes more money than Gronkowski and Hernandez combined and still less than Celek. The eagles are paying close to ten million a year on TEs.
Gronkowski and Hernandez
Davis and Walker
Graham and Thomas
I see what Kelly is thinking, hope it works.
I have to disagree 100 % G-Man with this Comparison (Casey & Hernandez)
Think more of a Dallas Clark type than the more athletic Pass Receiving Hernandez.. Also Hernandez is not much of a Blocker, where Casey is very good at it..
fellas all this is speculation until we actually see how he can play in the system Kelly wants to run. For all we know he could turn out to be garbage.
I always wondered why Andy didn’t use Harbor and Celek like that, SMH. All it takes is someone like Chip who can come in here and make things happen. I think he’s gonna have us in the money like Harnaugh did the 49ers/Carrol-Seahawks. This ain’t gonna be a 2-3 year rebuilding process, either we’re gonna come out swinging or be “lame ducks”; I’m going with the former.
To all the Kolb “nutsack huggers” on here, you all’s boy is getting cut by the Cardinals ASAP. He was always garbage and played like it to.
No surprise Rocko, it’s been common knowledge around the NFL that Kolb was going to be Released by the Cardinals this Off-Season
This just in, Eagles sign S Kenny Phillips and CB Cary williams! Any thoughts ?
It’s a 1yr deal for Phillips and 3yrs for Williams.