In the third of our 12-part offseason series examining the future of the Eagles, Reuben Frank and Dave Zangaro give their opinions on who will be and who won't be on the roster in 2017. We go alphabetically - Part 3 is Burton to Curry.
Trey Burton
Restricted free agent
Roob: Burton caught 14 passes the first nine games of the year and 23 the last six games of the year. One of the few Eagles who actually showed significant improvement as the year went on. He did drop a few too many passes, which is surprising for the usually sure-handed tight end. But overall Burton continued to progress and show signs that he can be a very good receiver in this offense. Burton isn't a Zach Ertz, but there's no reason he and Ertz can't be a pretty potent 1-2 tight end punch. Burton will catch 50 passes next year and continue to improve as a blocker. A nice player who can do a lot of different things.
Verdict: STAYS
Dave: Burton had a career-high 37 catches in 2016 after having just three in his first three seasons. The Eagles would love to have Burton back next season, but they might not be able to afford it. They really have two options. One would be to use the lowest tender, which would allow teams to negotiate with him and sign him without compensation; that price would be about $1.8 million. Or they could place a second-round tender on him, which means any team that signs him would have to give the Eagles a second-round pick; that price would be around $2.75 million next season. If the Eagles place the original round (lowest) tender on him, which I see happening, other teams might be interested. The Eagles would then have the ability to match an offer, but how much money are they going to put into the tight end position?
Verdict: GOES
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Nolan Carroll
Unrestricted free agent
Roob: Carroll isn't as bad as Nnamdi Asomugha or Byron Maxwell or Bradley Fletcher or even Leodis McKelvin, but he is yet another in a seemingly endless list of free-agent cornerbacks the Eagles have spent a fortune for that haven't panned out. Carroll isn't awful, but let's be honest. He's really not much of a playmaker, he gets beat way too often, he's inconsistent and the Eagles need to get better at corner. Carroll is a free agent, and I don't see any reason to re-sign him. He had just one interception this year, and 44 NFL cornerbacks had more. He's just a guy, and the Eagles need more than that.
Verdict: GOES
Dave: Carroll was brought back on a one-year deal for 2016 after he visited with the Cowboys. The deal wasn't worth a ton - just over $2 million - so they could go with the same type of deal to bring him back for next season. But do they want to? Carroll didn't have his best season and even admitted as much. It might be time to part ways and try to upgrade at the position long term.
Verdict: GOES
Brent Celek
Cap hit: $5M
Roob: Celek isn't going anywhere. Thanks to that somewhat mystifying three-year contract extension last offseason, he would count $6 million in dead money if the Eagles released him. As opposed to $2 million in salary. So Celek, who is still a capable blocker and catches just about everything he can get to, will be back for an 11th year in an Eagles uniform. I have no problem with Celek staying. He's been a tremendous Eagle on and off the field for a long, long time. It's just the Eagles have so many weaknesses and then this glut of tight ends, which doesn't make a lot of sense. But at least they're deep somewhere.
Verdict: STAYS
Dave: Yeah, $5 million is a big cap hit for a guy who has pretty much become a blocking tight end. With his new deal, though, the Eagles wouldn't save money if they cut him. And they probably wouldn't want to anyway. I'm not really one for keeping a guy just for leadership, but I think the Eagles want Celek to retire as an Eagle. If he can hold on for two more seasons, he'll do that.
Verdict: STAYS
Don Cherry
Roob: The former Villanova Wildcat will get a chance to impress during offseason workouts, but his most likely landing spot if he impresses is the practice squad.
Verdict: GOES
Dave: The Villanova linebacker spent most of the 2016 season on the Eagles' practice squad, so he's an unlikely candidate to make the 53-man roster in 2017. Still, he'll be in training camp and get a chance to prove himself. Maybe he can hang on the practice squad another year.
Verdict: GOES
Fletcher Cox
Cap hit: $9.4M
Roob: Cox was good this year but not as dominating as last year, and it will be interesting to watch how his career progresses as the huge base salaries start to kick in. Cox has a $9.4 million cap hit this year, $17.9 the following year and as high as $22 million in 2019 before dropping to $20.3 million, $17.2 million and $17.1 million. Needless to say, that is an unprecedented investment. The Eagles aren't paying him to be good, they're paying him to be one of the upper-echelon elite defensive players in the NFL, and this year, he just wasn't on that level. He's not going anywhere for a long time, but he has to be consistently better than he was this past season for that contract to be worth it.
Verdict: STAYS
Dave: A tough one here. Just kidding. Cox might have had a down season statistically, finishing with just 6½ sacks, but those stats don't tell the whole story. Cox is still the most disruptive force on the Eagles' defense and brings double teams all the time, which in theory should help his teammates. He needs to eventually find ways to beat those double teams and I think he will.
Verdict: STAYS
Vinny Curry
Cap hit: $9M
Roob: Curry's another one who's not going anywhere. You want to cut him after a disappointing 2½-sack season? Get ready for a $15 million dead money hit. That's not happening. Curry's five-year, $46.25 million contract looks like a mistake now, but the Eagles can't get out from under it until 2018 at the earliest. Curry will be here for at least one more year.
Verdict: STAYS
Dave: Curry got paid last offseason and didn't have much to show for it in 2016. He signed a five-year extension worth $46.25 million and then went out and played just 43 percent of the Eagles' defensive snaps and had just 2½ sacks. That's the same number of sacks Marcus Smith had in 2016. Curry had nine sacks in 2014 and has 10 in the other combined four years of his career. But that contract is just kicking in and he's not going anywhere.
Verdict: STAYS
