Dallas Goedert, Jonathan Gannon Focus on Travis Kelce
PHILADELPHIA - Dallas Goedert is regarded as one of the better young tight ends in football and the fourth-year player out of South Dakota State has practiced side-by-side with one of the standards at his position for his entire career in Philadelphia, three-time Pro Bowl selection Zach Ertz.
By Sunday, Goedert will have seen the current NFL standards during a three-week period: San Francisco dual-threat George Kittle and the most explosive pass-catching TE in the game, Kansas City's Travis Kelce, the brother of Eagles' All-Pro center Jason Kelce.
“He’s been one of the best, if not the best, tight end for the last five years,” Goedert said on Wednesday before practice when asked by SI.com's EagleMaven about sharing the field with the five-time All-Pro. “Obviously, he’s doing something right."
Goedert is busy prepping for the Chiefs' defense but noted he always tries to pick up some tips by watching opposing TEs who have excelled like Kelce.
"Anything you can learn from him, you’re going to do," Goedert said. "You’re going to watch film on him, see how he’s getting open, see how he’s getting all these targets, seeing what he does, ways that he wins.
“Any of the tight ends that put up numbers like that, regarded as the best in the league. I like to watch what they’re doing, how they’re getting their explosive plays, and what they do with the ball in their hand.”
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Goedert spent a portion of his summer in Nashville at Tight End University, a three-day event put together by Kelce, Kittle, and former NFL Pro Bowl TE Greg Olsen to share tips and tricks of the trade to make everyone a little better.
It was created in the mold of Von Miller's pass-rushing camp and the Offensive Line Masterminds Summit which Eagles' All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson has a heavy hand in.
Goedert is probably a little more like Kittle, who is a strong blocker as well as a more than capable receiver. Kelce is the most explosive flex TE in the game, though Goedert has the athleticism to make big plays so the mimicking of some of Kelce's tricks makes sense.
Travis Kelce
USA Today
“He’s able to do a lot of things to keep the defense in a reactionary position,” Goedert explained of the crafty Kelce. “He gives false indicators, he’ll hesitate in the middle of his route, he’ll throw his hand out like he’s about to break, keep going."
It's the little things that set the great ones apart and Goedert is cognizant of that.
“[Kelce] just does different things to keep the defense always guessing, which is pretty cool," said Goedert. "It just shows how smart he is, how much he knows what the defense is supposed to do and how he can mess them up by doing something a little bit earlier at a different spot.”
Jonathan Gannon had a similar sentiment when discussing Kelce.
"He knows how to get open," the Eagles defensive coordinator said. "He has a big catch radius. He's really good run after the catch, and he's smart. And he's got a quarterback that he's on the same page with.
"When you're defending a guy like that, you see a lot of times when we're looking at the tape and it's named a certain route concept, and you look at it and you're like, ‘No, that's not that concept.’ Well, it actually is, but then he's adjusting his route off the coverage."
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In Gannon's mind, that kind of savviness is what makes him so difficult to defend.
"It makes it difficult to say, ‘Well, he's supposed to do this, but because he saw this guy sitting over here, he sat it down and didn't run across the field. He sat it down right over the ball at 15 yards; like how are we going to play that?’" the DC said.
"It's a challenge playing this crew this week because he's on this - when you do that, the quarterback is expecting you to be over here, but now all of a sudden, you're not over there. He's on the same page. [Chiefs QB Patrick] Mahomes is on the same page with him."
Through three games in 2021, Goedert has eight catches for 132 yards and one touchdown and has been one of the Eagles' top pass-catching threats.
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
