Handicapping The Eagles' Backup TE Spot

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles need a new backup tight end, a role that had been Jack Stoll’s for much of the past three seasons.

A limited receiver and a plus-blocker, Stoll was set to enter his restricted free agency year back in the spring after arriving as an undrafted free agent out of Nebraska in 2021.

The Eagles didn’t tender Stoll and left in free agency for a one-year, veteran minimum deal with the division rival Giants.

The Eagles plan for replacing Stoll, who started 26 games over his first three seasons, will likely come from the trio of veteran free-agent signing C.J. Uzomah, 2023 trade acquisition Albert Okwuegbunam, along with third-year player Grant Calcaterra.

The longshot is athletic spring standout E.J. Jenkins with undrafted rookie McCallan Castles’ first-year ceiling limited to the practice squad.

Uzomah, 31, is the proven commodity, a 10-year veteran who’s played in 99 NFL games with 78 starts, including an impressive playoff run when Cincinnati made a run to the Super Bowl after the 2021 season.

At 6-foot-6 and 262 pounds Uzomah might be an upgrade in the blocking game for 12 personnel looks, something that would also allow Kellen Moore to use talented TE1 Dallas Goedert as a flex receiver more often. Uzomah’s coming off a poor season with the New York Jets but does seem healthy from the MCL injury that cut short his 2023 campaign.

Okwuegbunam is a perennial tease with all the athleticism and sub 4.5 speed at 6-5 and 258 but he’s never put it together in Denver or Philadelphia. He’s also finished minicamp on the sidelines with an unknown injury.

Jenkins, meanwhile, could probably use another year of seasoning before putting more on his plate but he should have at least earned more second-team looks with his standout spring play.

That leaves the betting favorite, Calcaterra, who was brought up unprompted by head coach Nick Sirianni when talking about the “extra playmaker” in the Eagles’ offense.

“I mean that can look a lot of different ways, right? Sirianny said. “... You know, Grant Calcaterra has done an unbelievable job. He’s shown, toughness and mental toughness to get better every single day, I noticed that every single day.”

Armed with that information, Goedert was also asked about Calcaterra as his potential running mate.

“I think Grant's been having a great spring. He came ready,” Goedert said. “He looks smooth. It's just kind of one of those steps as he's going into his third year.”

Serving as the No. 3 TE since arriving as a sixth-round pick out of SMU, Calcaterra played in 30 games over his first three NFL seasons with 345 offensive snaps, totaling nine receptions for 120 yards.

Known as more receiver than blocker, Calcaterra has been hard at work on the latter. Meanwhile, his concussion history that forced him into a short medical retirement at Oklahoma seems behind him.

“He hasn't played a ton of football but throughout last year and the year before he gets mixed in here and there and I think this year, without Jack being here, he's getting more reps on offense,” Godert said. “He's getting more routes and yeah, he's looking really good.

“So [that’s] something that I hope he continues to grow on and I hope in camp he comes back looking just like this so we can get more two tight ends on the field and have a have a strong push that way."

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