Eagles will tender Trey Burton at second-round level, per report

The Philadelphia Eagles will place a second-round tender on impending restricted free agent Trey Burton, according to a report from the Boston Herald’s Jeff Howe.

This news is a little interesting because the second-round tender is worth $2.81 million in 2017. That’s a decent amount of cap space to commit to a third string tight end.

But the Eagles clearly value Burton. He’s a core member of the special teams unit. Burton led the Eagles in special teams in 2015 before finishing fourth in 2016.

The 25-year-old Burton is also coming off the most productive season of his career. He played in 29.2% of Philadelphia’s offensive snaps and had 37 receptions for 327 yards and one touchdown. Burton has some of the most reliable hands on the team, which admittedly isn’t saying much.

With Burton set to make $2.81 million, the Eagles will have $13.41 million in cap space committed to the tight end position next season. Zach Ertz accounts for $5.6 million and Brent Celek’s cap number is an even $5 million.

Since Burton is a restricted free agent, NFL teams will be able to sign him to an offer sheet. If the Eagles don’t match that offer sheet, then Philadelphia will get a second-round pick from the team that signed him. But that likely won’t happen.

Burton has turned out to be a nice addition since the Eagles signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2014. Placing a second-round tender on him virtually guarantees he’ll be back for the 2017 season.