The Oakland Raiders have officially re-signed tight end Gabe Holmes.

In early March, the Oakland Raiders issued an exclusive rights free agent tender to tight end Gabe Holmes, which made retaining him a virtual certainty. Holmes recently signed the tender, making the transaction official and bringing him back for what will be his third season with the team.

#Raiders re-signed tight end Gabe Holmes today — Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) April 13, 2017

Holmes is a bit of conundrum for the Raiders, but one that Reggie McKenzie has thus far been willing to keep around. An undrafted free agent out of Purdue in 2015, Holmes spent the majority of his rookie season on the team’s practice squad. He was placed on the 53-man roster late in the season, but was never activated for a game.

Heading into the 2016 season, many in Raider Nation were anxious to see if Holmes would be given an opportunity to play, as McKenzie must be a fan of his to keep him around. But an ankle injury landed him on injured reserve, effectively ending his season.

So after hanging onto Holmes for two consecutive seasons with a grand total of zero official snaps, heading into this offseason, it would be interesting to see if Holmes would stick around, or if McKenzie would pull the plug.

We got that answer last month when the team offered the exclusive right tender. Holmes will be back, at least to compete for a spot on the 53-man roster. With Jared Cook, Clive Walford and Lee Smith ahead of him on the depth chart, he faces an uphill battle to make the team. Carry four tight ends is rare, so we’ll see what happens.

Holmes is listed at 6’5″ and 255 pounds and is a good athlete for his size. The best season of his collegiate career was 25 catches for 158 yards and 2 touchdowns. Not exactly eye-popping numbers, but two seasons into keeping him around, McKenzie must want to see this project through to the end.