What is Celek's ceiling?
Eagles tight end Brent Celek broke out during his third season with the Eagles. What are fair expectations for 2010? And does he really have a chance to be the best tight end in modern franchise history?
What is Celek's ceiling?
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
At this time last year, the Eagles' tight-end situation was considered a question mark.
L.J. Smith was let go after six seasons here. And the Eagles did not select a tight end in the draft until the fifth round when they picked up Cornelius Ingram.
That meant the Eagles were going into the 2009 season with Brent Celek in the starting lineup. A fifth-round pick in 2007, Celek was coming off a 2008 campaign where he started seven games and totaled 27 catches for 318 yards (not including a strong showing in the postseason).
All Celek did in his first full season as a starter was pile up 76 catches for 971 yards and eight touchdowns, while averaging 12.8 yards per catch.
At 24 years old, he's now turned the Eagles' tight end situation from question mark to pretty much a sure thing.
I wanted to take a closer look at Celek's receiving performance in '09 to see how it compared to some of the game's elite tight ends.
First, the numbers. Here are the top 10 tight ends in terms of receiving yards last season:
| Rec. | Yds. | YPC | TDs | Plays of 20+ | |
| Antonio Gates | 79 | 1,157 | 14.6 | 8 | 18 |
| Dallas Clark | 100 | 1,106 | 11.1 | 10 | 11 |
| Jason Witten | 94 | 1,030 | 11.0 | 2 | 11 |
| Brent Celek | 76 | 971 | 12.8 | 8 | 16 |
| Vernon Davis | 78 | 965 | 12.4 | 13 | 13 |
| Kellen Winslow | 77 | 884 | 11.5 | 5 | 5 |
| Tony Gonzalez | 83 | 867 | 10.4 | 6 | 4 |
| Zach Miller | 66 | 805 | 12.2 | 3 | 9 |
| Heath Miller | 76 | 789 | 10.4 | 6 | 8 |
| JerMichael Finley | 55 | 676 | 12.3 | 5 | 9 |
I chose the categories I did to show that Celek is not the kind of tight end you might remember growing up, or even the kind of tight end we saw earlier in the Andy Reid era. He's a big-play threat. Among the top 10 tight ends, only Gates averaged more yards per catch. Celek's eight touchdowns were tied for third in the NFC and fourth overall among tight ends.
And he had 16 catches of 20 yards or more. Think about that. On average, you could count on Celek to make a play of at least 20 yards once a game during the regular season. What a luxury to be able to get that type of big-play production from the tight end. Only Gates had more (18) plays of 20 yards or more.
In terms of yards after the catch, I found some conflicting stats. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Celek averaged 6.0 yards after the catch, which put him at second among tight ends who had at least 50 receptions (behind Gates).
But according to Yahoo Sports, Celek averaged 5.1 yards after the catch.
The other aspect I wanted to look at was Celek's third-year numbers compared to third-year numbers of some of the other tight ends mentioned above. Here's how those stack up:
| Rec. | Yds. | YPC | TDs | |
| Brent Celek | 76 | 971 | 12.8 | 8 |
| Tony Gonzalez | 76 | 849 | 11.2 | 11 |
| Antonio Gates | 89 | 1,101 | 12.4 | 10 |
| Jason Witten | 66 | 757 | 11.5 | 6 |
| Dallas Clark | 37 | 488 | 13.2 | 4 |
Not bad, huh? More yards than Gonzalez in his third season. A higher average per catch than Gates. More receptions than Witten.
And keep in mind that Celek had only 11 starts under his belt going into his third season. Gonzalez had 16; Gates 26; Witten 22; and Clark 23.
So what's the point of all this? To show just how impressive Celek's growth has been. Celek, the Birds' personnel staff and the coaches deserve a lot of credit for that.
The Eagles were wise to lock him up to an eight-year, $34M deal last season. Granted, he's only done it for one year, and he has to stay healthy and continue to improve, but it's not a stretch to suggest that Celek could finish his career as the best tight end in modern (Super Bowl era) Eagles history.
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Nice article Sheil!!— Quick82
If he stays healthy and Ingram lives up to his potential (and also doesn't blow his knee out again) the Eagles could be set at TE for years to come.— Mabus- Wow, I knew he had a solid season last year, but those are some impressive stats. It seems like the league is really running short on explosive, play-making TE's these days, so having a tool like that is a serious asset. It also could create a nice comfort option for Kolb - big K's Dallas Clark.— 3-hit shutout
- The reason these numbers are so high is because of the explosiveness of the offense with McNabb. I think all these numbers drop with Kolb except for receptions probably stay the same.— Bex
Comment removed.- Yahoo says 12.8 yds per catch, 5.1 YAC— aubrey_mcclendon
celek is talented but is a punk..he is no witten who is class..wolf out.— wolf 4
Sheil you have quickly become my favorite DN / INQ sports writer. Short on hyperbole, bluster, rumermongering, and s***-stirring. Long on facts, data, and In-Depth Analysis. Many of the philly old timers could take a lesson or two from your work. Keep up the good work!— soybot
Hmmm, what is Celek's ceiling? Is it, a cathedral?...Or did he go with the dome ceiling look?- Here is how it will go: 1) Celek will be the #1 receiver with the most catches 2) Maclin will have the 2nd most catches 3) Desean will have fewer catches than Maclin but he will have a bigger yards per catch average 4) Avant will be 4th in catches 5) Shady 5th in catches.— soulman386
- I just hope to hell that he doesn't wind up staring at his ceiling from a hospital bed!.....And that goes double for his back-up.— TBear
- i am ok with YPC and rec going down if with #4 at the helm the YAC's go up across the board, to me that puts more of a stress on a D then low percentage 20 yards + plays— xlGmanlx
- Celek has done a nice job, and his stats are good. But he's no Jason Witten. Or Gonzalez, Clark, or Gates. I'm glad Celek is an Eagle. Right now, I'd call him the Trent Cole of tight ends, and aren't they both 5th rounders out of Cincinnati?— tacklinjoe
- People always talk about McNabb throwing the ball into the ground, but if there was 1 guy that he hit in stride more than the others, or right in the chest on curls and comebacks, it was Celek. Granted, Brent did run a lot of people over last year for extra YAC and some of those numbers were the result of solely his effort, but #5 did give him a lot of balls to work with. If the WR's are so in tune with KK this year, Celek's numbers will probably drop, and if he wants to be the best, he needs to improve his blocking and become a 6th ol out there when he does it. Overall, he won't duplicate it this year, but will be crucial at times and overall still progress into one of the finer NFC TE's.— Bleue
Dang Reality Speaks....you already did the schtick I was going to do.
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