Unlike some of his Eagles teammates, tight end James Casey doesn’t have to make the adjustment from playing for Andy Reid to playing for Chip Kelly.
He does have to make an adjustment, though. Casey spent his first four seasons with the Texans before signing with the Eagles as a free agent this offseason but isn’t going to have OTAs or minicamp to help him make the transition to his new offense. Mike Garafolo of USA Today reports that Casey had arthroscopic surgery to clean out loose cartilage in his right knee and will miss the remainder of spring practices.
Garafolo also reports that Casey’s surgery may have been part of the reason why the Eagles cut undrafted rookie running back Miguel Maysonet earlier this week. A person “informed of the team’s thinking” told Garafolo that Casey’s absence (as well as that of rookie Zach Ertz, who is not permitted to practice with the team because Stanford is still in session) left the team with a need at tight end. They filled it by signing Will Shaw and felt that running back was a spot where they could afford to lose a body.
While it would have helped Casey to be at practices in May and June, he isn’t likely to fall out of the team’s plans before training camp. As long as he’s healthy enough to participate with his teammates this summer, we should see plenty of Casey with the offense next season.
UPDATE 11:18 a.m. ET: The original version of this post indicated Casey was set to have surgery. Garafolo has updated his report to reflect the fact that Casey has already had surgery.