How Howie Roseman's Evolution Could Result In A New TE Room

You can never say never in the NFL, especially a year after it looked like Dallas Goedert would be a salary-cap casualty in Philadelphia en route to a new home in another NFL city.

Instead the Eagles and Goedert reached a reworked deal in which the veteran tight end took a $4 million financial haircut from a scheduled $14M down to $10M to remain with the Eagles.

Goedert responded with a career-high 13 touchdowns (including the postseason), and hits the open market set to turn 32 at the tail end of the 2026 season.

Peel back the onion a bit and you'll see Goedert regressed as a run blocker just as Philadelphia is shifting to a new offensive system that will require traditional Y-backs to help in both phases, something GM Howie Roseman admitted last week at the Jefferson Health Training Complex.

"I would say that the tight end position starts with me in evolving," Roseman admitted. "I think that from my perspective, I've always had an affinity for kind of the the receiving tight ends.  I think that's shown in my work. ... So I think that also something that as you evolve as a GM, as an evaluator, and you watch what's out there, you got to be cognizant of the fact that at some levels the game has changed.  I think when you look at it at a room this year, probably needed more of a diverse skill set at that position."

Complete Turnover?

The room last season was Goedert, as well as backups Grant Calcaterra and Kylen Granson, who are all better receivers than blockers.

"All good players that we had there, but probably could have used that [diverse skill set]," Roseman admitted.

On Tuesday at the NFL's Scouting Combine, Roseman was again asked about Goedert.

“I’m really glad we were able to figure it out and bring him back to Philadelphia this [past] year for this season and [he was] tremendously productive for us,” Roseman said. “Just a huge asset for our offense to have him on our football team."

Running it back isn't going to be easy, however.

"Again, we’ve got to put the whole puzzle together. And so to sit here — we’ve got a lot of other free agents, too — and say, ‘Hey, we’re definitely gonna get this guy back’ … You know, when we get this late, obviously the market dictates a lot of that as well, but you know, we’ll certainly sit down with his agent here over the next couple of days and have a conversation,” said Roseman.

That conversation likely only ends up with Goedert back for a ninth season in Philadelphia on another team-friendly deal, especially considering that long-time position coach Jason Michael is gone, replaced by Ryan Mahaffey, who was hired with the dual-role of being run game coordinator, another hint that improvement in the blocking phase will be very important for the Eagles in 2026.

It's not out of the question that the Eagles’ tight end room is completely turned over at the top to better fit Sean Mannion's new offensive system.

Head coach Nick Sirianni also highlighted the added emphasis toward run blocking at the position. Perhaps the best-case scenario is another one-year deal for Goedert that's acceptable by both sides complemented by two blocking-centric TEs as the backups.

“I think it’s always important that tight ends are able to create mismatches in the pass game versus some of the different guys that they get in the inside coverages,” Sirianni said. “It’s been our case in the pass game that they’re great yards-after-catch guys. I think you’ve seen that with Dallas, of how phenomenal he is with the ball in his hands and how difficult he is to bring down.

"And then being able to be effective in the run game. We’ve been in the top ten and top five in rushing, obviously, you know, in all the years but this year. And it’s important that they’re highly involved in that and being able to block tough matchups with the defensive ends or linebackers or whoever it may be.”

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