The Eagles have signed James Casey to a 3-year, $14-and-a-half million dollar contract. That's a lot of money for a mediocre Texans fullback, but that's just how Casey has primarily been used -- not what he actually is.
Casey is a talented pass catcher who should play primarily tight end in Philadelphia. The Texans had Owen Daniels, Joel Dreessen and Garrett Graham for most of Casey's tenure there, so they didn't use him very much in the passing game. When they did, though, he was pretty productive.
Casey has played in 30 games over the last two seasons, and was targeted 2 or fewer times in 18 of those. Naturally, he had almost no receiving production in those games: 9 catches for 103 yards.
But when he got his chances, he took advantage. The below tables show the seven games where he was targeted 3 or 4 times, and the five games where he was targeted 5 or more times. In those games, he was productive, catching all 4 of his career TDs and averaging nearly 4 catches for 43 yards per game. He was primarily catching shorter stuff, but there's nothing wrong with his hands: he caught 43 of the 51 passes sent his way (84 percent).
The Eagles still have Brent Celek, so it's unclear whether Casey will play full-time. (They're certainly not paying him like a backup.) If Chip Kelly's offense utilizes Casey as a pass catcher -- and the contract seems to suggest it will -- he could put up some nice numbers next season.
James Casey, 3-4 targets (2011-2012)
Tg No Yds TD
3 3 29 0
3 2 11 0
3 1 5 1
3 3 20 1
3 3 49 0
3 3 11 0
4 3 18 0
Totals: 22 targets, 18 receptions, 143 yards, 2 TDs
James Casey, 5-plus targets (2011-2012)
Tg No Yds TD
5 4 38 0
5 4 53 0
5 5 36 1
7 7 91 0
7 5 126 1
Totals: 29 targets, 25 catches, 344 yards, 2 TDs
--Andy Richardson