Burton Signs RFA Tender

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - Eagles tight end Trey Burton signed his restricted free agent tender on Monday, completing his rise from undrafted college free agent to meaningful part of the offense.

The 25-year-old will make $2.7 million in 2017 on what was a second-round tender and will be set to become a free agent next March unless Philadelphia works something out long-term.

Burton first joined the Eagles as an undrafted free agent out of Florida in 2014 and developed into a core special-teams contributor before breaking out a bit on offense last season, his first under Doug Pederson.

Burton finished 2016 with a career-high 37 receptions for 327 yards and one touchdown as the third tight end behind Zach Ertz and Brent Celek and remained a special-teams stalwart, even filling in at long snapper when Jon Dorenbos and Celek were both injured in the same game against Washington.

"He's a four-core special teams player," Pederson said when discussing Burton at last week's spring meetings in Phoenix. "He's a good leader. He's young, but he's a good leader of our football team. He brings energy every day. Love having him on the team. You saw what he did last season when Jordan (Matthews) was hurt at the end of the year, Trey became a target for Carson [Wentz]."

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen