Over the next few weeks leading up to training camp, we’ll be counting down the top 25 most important Eagles for the 2023 season.
25. Nolan Smith
24. Quez Watkins
23. Kenny Gainwell
22. Marcus Mariota
21. Reed Blankenship
20. Brandon Graham
19. D'Andre Swift
18. Avonte Maddox
17. Cam Jurgens
16. Fletcher Cox
15. Landon Dickerson
14. Jordan Davis
13. Nakobe Dean
12. Jalen Carter
11. James Bradberry
10. Jordan Mailata
9. Josh Sweat
8. DeVonta Smith
7. Darius Slay
6. Dallas Goedert
Anyone who doesn’t have Dallas Goedert’s name on the list of the best tight ends in football simply isn’t paying attention.
Maybe he doesn’t have the accolades of Travis Kelce, George Kittle or Mark Andrews but Goedert over the past couple seasons has proven his worth. He’s a slam dunk top five tight end in the NFL and he isn’t five.
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In 2022, Goedert was well on his way to his first career Pro Bowl before suffering a shoulder injury that kept him off the field for five games. But even in 12 starts, he still managed to catch 55 passes for 702 yards and 3 touchdowns. At that pace, a 17-game season would come out to 78 catches, 995 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Goedert has also consistently shown up in the playoffs. In five career playoff starts, Goedert has 29 catches for 306 yards and 2 touchdowns. His average of 61.2 yards per game in the playoffs is a 1,000+ yard pace over a 17-game season.
And those numbers don’t even include his ability as a blocker, which is a true difference-maker in the Eagles’ offense.
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PFF ranked Goedert as the fourth-best tight end in the NFL last year and Football Outsiders had him ranked second. By any metric, Goedert is a great player and the Eagles need him to do that again in 2023.
“Me being the competitor I am, the person I am, I want to be the best, to make All-Pro,” Goedert said this spring. “To be a Pro Bowler would be everything you dream of as a kid. But I don’t put that stress on me or anything. I care about the success of the team more than my individual success. Whatever it takes to help the team win games, that’s what I’m going to do. If I get praised for it, that’s good. If not, you know, we’ll just keep winning games because that’s more fun than anything.”
Not only is Goedert a great player but the Eagles are exceptionally deep at the tight end position. Even though the Eagles won their five games without Goedert last season, his absence changed the complexion off the offense. In those five games, backup Jack Stoll became the starter and caught a total of 7 passes for 74 yards. Goedert had three games last year with more receiving yards.
The Eagles will likely have the same backup and third-string tight ends again in 2023 in Stoll and Grant Calcaterra. No shot at those guys but the drop-off from Goedert to them is very steep.
This offseason, Goedert detailed some of the work he’s been doing with Eagles receivers, specifically A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. Goedert is still striving to get better like all great players do. He also went back to Tight End University this offseason.
Goedert is 28 now and entering the sixth year of his NFL career. He has already been playing at a Pro Bowl level but he’s determined to keep getting better. If he does, it won’t be long before those accolades follow.
“Really all aspects of my game I want to improve on,” Goedert said. “I want to get more efficient on the top of my routes, I want to get better at the releases, my hand placement on blocks could be better, my angles could be better. It’s just non-stop. You can watch film and correct something on every play.”
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