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Eagles Brought Back One of Their Best-Ever Tight Ends to Prep for Travis Kelce

Brent Celek is hoping to help his former team win their second ring in franchise history.

Tyler Lauletta

Philadelphia Eagles tight end Brent Celek celebrates after defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
Philadelphia Eagles tight end Brent Celek celebrates after defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. / Brad Rempel-Imagn Images
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The Philadelphia Eagles are calling in a franchise legend to help prepare for their Super Bowl matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Next Sunday, one of the highest priorities for the Eagles' defense will be containing the play of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

On Friday, safeties Reed Blankenship and C.J. Gardner-Johnson were seeing getting some practice matching up man-to-man against a tight end. The tight end in question? Former Philadelphia stalwart Brent Celek.

Celek spent all 11 seasons of his NFL career with the Eagles, and retired a champion after the team’s Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots after the 2017 season.

He’s not the only former Philadelphia tight end that has been helping the Eagles get ready for their final challenge.

In the NFC championship game, former Philadelphia tight end Zach Ertz led all receivers with 104 yards on 11 receptions for the Washington Commanders. Walking off the field, Ertz received a grand cheer from the Philadelphia crowd, thanking him for his time in the city.

While Ertz’s dominant day didn’t spoil the Eagles’ run to the Super Bowl, it should serve as a wake-up call to the team’s defense that containing the tight end needs to be a point of emphasis heading into Super Bowl week.

Hopefully Celek’s presence helps them get ready.

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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.

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