Eagles TE Brent Celek has slight MCL sprain; Andy Reid, Howie Roseman consider options
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Eagles TE Brent Celek has slight MCL sprain; Andy Reid, Howie Roseman consider options
Zach Berman, Inquirer Staff Writer
Eagles tight end Brent Celek has a slight sprain of the MCL in his right knee, which an MRI confirmed after Celek suffered the injury during Thursday afternoon’s practice.
Celek will be day-to-day while recovering. The injury occurred during a naked bootleg when Celek pivoted and had his foot caught in the grass.
“Mild knee sprain, doesn’t hurt that bad,” Celek said. “Just something that I have to be cautious about.”
Coach Andy Reid and general manager Howie Roseman will discuss veteran tight ends, but it doesn’t seem like Jeremy Shockey is in that group. “Not right now, no,” Reid said. Considering Celek could soon return, it might not make sense for the Eagles to sign someone simply to balance the reps in camp. Reid mentioned using a fullback such as Emil Igwenagu in that role.
“We just got to weigh that out, whether we bring somebody else in or do this,” Reid said. “When you bring somebody else in, and if they haven’t been in a camp, then they got to take a three-day build-up, so it’s not going to help you tomorrow. We got to look at those things. And Brent could be back the next couple days, it could be a week.”
For Celek, the injury is frustrating because he arrived at camp with a clean bill of health. The injury likely won't set him back with the offense or make him miss any preseason games unless it lingers. But Celek took little solace in the timing of it, focusing instead that he's not practicing.
“In order to win a Super Bowl," Celek said, "we need all of us out there.”
Come on Birds....lets get through camp without anymore injuries. Might need to bring Moon out of retirement.— StewieLavin27- It seems apparent the game is evolving into a multi-tight-end passing game. Once those guys get the ball in their hands, the "tough guys" just run over the smaller defensive backs. That's what the Pats have done with great success. There's no need to be as athletic as Kellen Winslow, just enough to get open and run over someone.
Right now, this is our one area of weakness. I love Celek, but he may never rebound from the myriad of injuries, and where does that leave us?
It's up to the tight end and slot receiver to exploit the middle of the field. We're good at slot, but there's a huge question mark at tight end.
I can't fault the front office or coaching regime. These guys have been "all over it." They've covered every area of weakness, except this one. What team can say that? Still, it's an issue that needs to be addressed.
As much as I love Celek, I can't depend on him for 16 games. I need another starting-caliber, back-up tight end.
The Birds will definitely sign someone. Let's see just how good our scouting department is. - Haven't New England now got Gronk, Hernandez, Ballard & Shiancoe now? I think that's called depth. There's not much out there, realistically it will be Harbor unless they trade an odd man out DLineman for TE...
— UKEagle - Had his foot caught in the grass?— Bobphxville
- Where's Jeff Thomason— Gregory1
- Hope he wasn't doing that stupid captain morgan pose when he got hurt.— 46 and 2
- Sign Shockey. Do it. Now.— P-Dub 11
- Sign Keith Byars and you'll have your fullback and T.E... problem solved.— Geno D
- LOL! Not Buddy Ryan's "medical reject."
Geno, one of the best posts of the 2012 training camp era. If memory serves, you have more than a few others. - Just put the fullback from UMASS out there, we're going to need to block for Vick all day anyway— Blue Hens Rule
- w/o celik they have the weakest TE sets in league, need quality depth at this key position in particular around red zone.— camasbud
Reality hits after 1 day of practice lol...I was wondering if maybe Brent wasnt quite as healthy as they were claiming before this. He said that he played with a sports hernia all last season or maybe even multiple seasons before getting it fixed. Its possible the injuries or cumulation of them could be hampering his production at this point. Hopefully hes OK. I dont know why else you want Visanthe Shiancoe.- beep! beep! beep!
I hear the Eagles Excuse Truck backing into position . . .— ekw555
