Continuing to retain their young core of talented players, the Eagles on Friday announced a four-year contract extension through 2025 for tight end Dallas Goedert, who joins defensive end Josh Sweat and offensive tackle Jordan Mailata as key homegrown pieces for this football program moving forward.
Goedert becomes the third player from the 2018 NFL Draft class to sign a second contract with the Eagles and he will continue to be a featured piece of the offense in the present and in the future. The team's first pick in 2018 – No. 49 overall in the second round – Goedert shared time with Zach Ertz for three-plus seasons before Ertz was traded to Arizona in October. Even with the limited playing time, Goedert has been an extremely productive pass catcher and in-line blocker for the Eagles, and this year he's been rated by Pro Football Focus as the top receiving tight end in the league and the No. 3 overall tight end in the NFL. Goedert could have easily surveyed the free agent landscape following the season, but decided that Philadelphia is where he wants to be for the long term.
"The game gets simpler and simpler and slower and slower," Goedert said recently in an interview for the Eagles Insider Podcast. "I just went out and worked every day and tried to help the team any way I could."
In 51 career games with 34 starts, Goedert has produced 166 receptions, 1,894 yards (11.4 avg.), and 14 touchdowns. Here is a breakdown of his numbers during his Eagles' career:
2021 Statistics: This season, Goedert leads all NFL tight ends in receiving first-down percentage (75.9%). He also ranks third among his position leaguewide in receiving average (14.8 yards per catch), fourth in yards after the catch per reception (6.8), and eighth in receiving yards (429).
Over the last four games (since Week 7), Goedert ranks second among NFL tight ends in yards per reception (15.2). He also owns the third-most receiving yards (213) and receiving first downs (10) among tight ends in that span.
The feeling is, from both Goedert and the Eagles, that the best is yet to come for the 6-foot-5, 256-pounder.
"I've grown into the role and into the league. I was blessed to have this body type. I was blessed to be big, fast, and strong. There's a lot of hard work that goes into it and when it comes to gameday I want to catch the ball and run over the safety. Those guys aren't my friends when it's gameday. I want to make them pay because that's the nature of the game. There is a lot that goes into it – playing with leverage, knowing the defense, knowing where Jalen (Hurts) needs me to be. Tight end is a unique position. We have to be half a step into the world of an offensive lineman and half a step into a wide receiver. It's the best of both worlds. We can impact the running game with our blocking and we can impact the passing game by catching the football and scoring touchdowns, and we all love scoring touchdowns."
Since 2020, Goedert has produced the fifth-highest receiving average (12.7 yards per catch) and receiving first-down percentage (66.7%) among NFL tight ends, while also ranking sixth among his position group in receiving yards per game (47.7) during that stretch.
Goedert ranks 11th among NFL tight ends in receptions (166), 10th in receiving yards (1,894), and yards per reception (11.4), and tied for 10th in receiving touchdowns (14) since his rookie year. He has also registered the seventh-most yards after the catch (907) and ninth-most receiving first downs (98) among tight ends in that span.
Goedert has been a playmaker for the Eagles in his four seasons, and there is plenty more to come. The Eagles have done a great job this season of identifying some young players – Sweat, Mailata, and Goedert from the team's 2018 NFL Draft – and securing them for the future. As they prepare for a big game on Sunday against New Orleans and focus on the present, the Eagles are keeping an eye on the future, one that is very bright with a young core secured and an exciting 2022 NFL Draft period ahead next spring.
