Of no surprise to fans of the Philadelphia Eagles, James Casey has been released prior to the 2015 free agency period. One of the first signings of the Chip Kelly era, Casey never received an opportunity to be of value on offense, despite his contributions on special teams. The Eagles tight end notified the world on twitter earlier today, bidding a classy farewell to the Eagles’ community.
I was fired by the Eagles today. Thank you to the entire organization, my teammates, coaches, and all the fans for 2 great years.
— James Casey (@jamescasey85) February 19, 2015
Casey spent his tenure as an Eagle buried on the depth chart behind Brent Celek and Zach Ertz, making Casey’s expected $4,000,000 salary in 2015 a misappropriation of valuable resources.
While Casey will be missed on special teams, his release opens up more doors for the Eagles in free agency. Prior to Casey’s release, Philadelphia had $19,038,621 estimated cap room. With such valuable unrestricted free agents as Jeremy Maclin, Cedric Thornton, and Brandon Graham, the Eagles must trim the fat if they hope to keep the core of a team that lead the NFC East for the majority of the season.
At the end of the day, Casey was valuable but replaceable. A treasure-trove on special teams but a lackluster contributor elsewhere, Casey was nothing more than valuable depth—a commodity the Eagles do not currently have the financial room to keep.