EAGLES ROSTER ANALYSIS: Tight ends
There’s a web site that sells T-shirts emblazoned with Goedertz and the number 886 on it.
Any Eagles fan worth his or her weight in E-A-G-L-E-S chants knows what that is. It’s a merger of the two Eagles tight end ends – Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert, and their numbers. Goedert is 88; Ertz 86.
Goedertz could easily be confused with Godzilla, since Goedertz has become a monster all its own, one that has become difficult for NFL defenses to stop.
On a team devoid of receivers last season, Ertz and Goedert stepped up to lead the team in pass catching.
Ertz had 88 catches for 916 yards in 15 game, scoring six touchdowns, which was tied for second for most on the team. Had Ertz not suffered a kidney injury and played in the season finale, he may have had his second straight 1,000-yard season.
Goedert, in just his second season, made 58 receptions for 607 yards and five scores.
Add it up and Goedertz plundered its way to 146 catches for 1,523 yards and 11 touchdowns. That’s a monster season, all right.
Ertz and Goedert are the best 1-2 tight end punch in the NFL, so there’s no need for the Eagles to run right out in this offseason to find another one.
Tight end may be the only position on the Eagles that doesn’t have a question mark next to it.
Ertz was cryptic in his final interview before heading into the offseason, talking about not knowing if he will be back next season and bringing up his contract, which runs through 2021.
“Zach's got two years left on his contract,” said general manager Howie Roseman last month. “He's a guy that's had a tremendous career. He's got a chance to not only go in the Eagles Hall of Fame, but really, the NFL Hall of Fame.
"I think our goal is to keep our home-grown players here. I don't think - I don't want to put words in his mouth, but just having conversations - I don't think it was meant to be reflected about concern about his immediate future.”
Ertz, who turns 30 in November, isn’t going anywhere, and neither is Goedert, who just turned 25 on Jan. 3.
“Going forward, part of the reason that we talk about trying to have more draft picks and young players is trying to keep our young players that are really good, like Dallas,” said Roseman. “We'll go through that and the planning part of that going forward, but obviously a really good young player.”
After the monster that is Goedertz, the Eagles have a reliable tight end in Joshua Perkins, who came on strong at the end of the season.
Perkins offers position flexibility, too, able to play receiver in a pinch. Perkins doesn’t have a roster spot locked down like Ertz and Goedert, and he had to earn his way off the practice squad last season, but this will be his third season in Philly and he has shown enough to warrant a job.
There will be competition.
Alex Ellis was the first tight end promoted from the practice squad last year, earning his way onto the roster on Sept. 6. Four days later he was waived, brought back to the practice squad and promoted to the roster again on Sept. 17. An injury led to his release on Oct. 4, but he was brought back on Dec. 16.
Clearly, the Eagles like him.
That makes four tight ends. The Eagles could look to add a veteran like they did late last season when they brough in Richard Rodgers, who is a free agent. They probably won’t draft one, though, but they could bring one in as an undrafted free agent.
It’s just a position that is not a priority like so many others.
Not with a monster like Goedertz in its prime.
