Philadelphia Eagles sign tight end to futures contract

The Philadelphia Eagles signed free agent tight end Joshua Perkins to a reserve/futures contract, according to an official announcement from the team.

To be clear, Perkins has not been signed to the active 53-man roster. This signing is being made for the 90-man offseason roster.

Perkins, 24, measures in at at 6-4, 227 pounds. He played college football at Washington (with Sidney Jones and Elijah Qualls) before being signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2016.

As a rookie, Perkins appeared in eight games with Atlanta. He logged three receptions for 42 yards and one touchdown. It was a nice catch.

Perkins also had three special teams tackles that year. He spent the 2017 season on Atlanta’s practice squad.

Perkins, a former high school wide receiver, is more of a receiving tight end than a blocking one.

It makes sense for the Eagles to add a tight end since Zach Ertz is the only player at his position on the 53-man roster guaranteed to be back in 2018. Brent Celek could potentially be a cap casualty (or retire?). Trey Burton, meanwhile, is set to be an unrestricted free agent. Billy Brown spent the entire 2017 season on Philadelphia’s practice squad.

It never seemed like Perkins did anything wrong to fall out of favor with the Falcons. Just got caught in a numbers crunch. Worth taking a shot on.

Here’s a complete list of players the Eagles have signed to futures contracts this offseason. Note that Philadelphia will likely sign all of their own practice squad players to futures contracts once the Eagles’ season is over.

TE Joshua Perkins

TE Adam Zaruba

C Jon Toth

WR Marquess Wilson

P Cameron Johnston

CB Elie Bouka