Category: Sports

Eagles tight end Kylen Granson says he is still wrapping his head around the dichotomy of Dallas Goedert, nine months into their time as teammates.

Goedert’s reputation as a tight end preceded him, long before he set the franchise record in single-season touchdowns at his position this year. Granson was already familiar with Goedert’s greatness on the gridiron when they first met at Tight End University, the offseason summit for the do-it-all offensive skill players organized by George Kittle, Travis Kelce, and Greg Olsen.

It wasn’t until they became teammates this season when Granson got to see the other side of the 31-year-old tight end. Goedert, he says, is a “big goofball.”

Players across the locker room corroborate that stance. Their examples are endless. Jordan Mailata says he cherishes Goedert’s “ah-ha-ha” awkward laugh that slices through uncomfortable conversations and gets his teammates giggling again.

EJ Jenkins, the practice squad tight end, is always on his toes around Goedert, bracing himself for “I-got-you” tricks, when he points at Jenkins’ shirt as if there’s something on it only to swipe up at his nose when he looks down.

Goedert’s pièce de résistance is his pregame breakdown of the tight end huddle. Instead of a “hoorah” message, he explained, he tries to lighten the mood. His quote before the 2024 season-opener in São Paulo, Brazil against the Green Bay Packers — “You know why they made sidewalks? ‘Cause the streets aren’t for everybody.” — remains a crowd favorite.

“It’s kind of funny, seeing the offset between the two,” Granson said. “It’s like, this goofball and this competitor are the same person?”

But one doesn’t exist without the other, Goedert says.

“I think it’s important for me to be loose when I play the game,” Goedert said. “When we’re going out for pregame, I just kind of want to be able to make people smile. Be able to make people laugh, ‘cause that’s when I feel like I play the best.”

Goedert must be earning a few extra chuckles in the huddle this year. After an offseason of uncertainty, the veteran tight end is having a career year, scoring a personal-best 11 touchdowns through 15 starts, the most he’s had in the regular season in his eight years with the Eagles.

That touchdown total is tied for the league lead among tight ends and is more than double his previous career high (five touchdowns in 2019). Ten of those touchdowns have come in the red zone.

More uncertainty looms, as Goedert is nearing the end of his one-year, $10 million deal. But for now, Goedert is focused on the playoffs, with another milestone within reach — he’s two scores away from tying the franchise record for career postseason touchdowns (six, held by Harold Carmichael).

As much as Goedert tries to keep things light, there’s no joking about his ascent in Year 8.

“He’s been able to take advantage of the opportunities he’s had, and it’s awesome to see a guy like him who means so much in the room, to the offense, to this team,” said Jason Michael, the Eagles tight ends coach. “I don’t think there’s any question that his leadership shows who he is every day, and it’s cool to see that he’s been able to be rewarded for that.”

Anatomy of a red-zone threat

When the Tush Push died this season, Goedert rose from its ashes.

The play that once worked “92% of the time,” according to former Eagles center Jason Kelce, isn’t the short-yardage juggernaut it was four years ago. Hurts has converted or scored on 77.8% of his quarterback sneak attempts this season, per Pro Football Focus, down from the 83% success rate the Eagles had achieved going into the year since 2021.

“The quarterback sneak hasn’t been working as good for us this year,” Goedert said. “So I feel like the next option [in the red zone] was me down there.”

The Tush Push was Goedert’s entry point to his red-zone scoring surge this season, beginning in the first quarter of the Eagles’ Week 4 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On first-and-goal from the 2, Hurts lined up under center in his typical quarterback sneak position — a staggered stance with his left leg forward and his right leg back.

He had no pushers behind him, though, giving the illusion that he was running a traditional quarterback sneak. Instead, Hurts shoveled the ball to Goedert, who was aligned tight to the formation in the back of a bunch set to the quarterback’s right. Goedert followed a trio of blockers into the end zone for his first red-zone touchdown of the season.

That touchdown gave way to nine more in the red zone over the next 12 games. Goedert has accounted for 58.8% of the Eagles’ red-zone receiving touchdowns, according to Next Gen Stats, which is the greatest share for any NFL player in 2025.

“We’ve just kind of been running with it and I’m going to keep trying to make them work,” Goedert said. “But until they don’t work, I see us still trying to find different ways to give me the ball in that situation.”

Why is Goedert the most logical red-zone target in the Eagles passing offense? To Granson, the answer is simple.

“Big body, big body, big body,” Granson said.

At 6-foot-5, 256 pounds, Goedert is a big, strong target primed for physical catch-and-runs in the most crowded area of the field. Five of his touchdowns came on catches made behind the line of scrimmage, requiring him to run with a sense of “anger,” as Nick Sirianni puts it, to overpower defenders on his way to the end zone.

Size isn’t the only factor that makes Goedert a go-to target. To get vertical quickly and have success running after the catch, Michael said that the veteran tight end has to be able to trust his hands to secure those passes in traffic.

Michael asserted that Goedert catches more balls in practice than anybody on the team. He isn’t involved in the special teams periods, a time when Goedert can typically be found going through a catch circuit. Together, Michael and Goedert work on a plethora of catches, from one-handed to contested.

Goedert’s ability as a run blocker gets him on the field in the red zone, too. Four of Goedert’s red-zone touchdowns this season have had some sort of run-action component, including three scores on run-pass options and one on a play-action pass. The tight end credits Hurts and Saquon Barkley for forcing defenses to respect them as run threats, thus allowing Goedert to get a step on the defense before making a play.

“The more you can do as a player, the more opportunities you’re going to open for yourself,” Michael said. “The fact that Dallas is a player that can stay on the field every down as a run blocker, as a pass protector, and be able to do those things, when you can do that, it allows you as an offense to use those things to your advantage in certain situations.”

Uncertainty leads to opportunity

Guard Matt Pryor, a member of the same 2018 draft class that brought Goedert and Mailata to Philadelphia, has a preferred nickname for the tight end.

“I call him ‘Philly,’” Pryor said. “Yeah, ‘Philly Goedert.’ ‘Cause Dallas wanted him, but we drafted him.”

The Eagles ensured that the Dallas Cowboys, bracing for the retirement of tight end Jason Witten, wouldn’t have a chance to select Goedert. Howie Roseman moved up to select him out of South Dakota State with the No. 49 overall pick in the second round, hurdling the Cowboys at No. 50.

Philly and its offense have become synonymous with Goedert. The Britton, S.D., native is the longest-tenured member of the Eagles’ passing game and one of the most productive tight ends in franchise history. With his goal-line touchdown against the Buffalo Bills two weeks ago, Goedert broke Pete Retzlaff’s 1965 record for single-season touchdowns by an Eagles tight end.

Tush Push inefficiency aside, that feat wouldn’t have been possible a year ago. Goedert missed seven games due to injury, including three games with a hamstring injury and a four-game stint on injured reserve with a knee issue.

Even after the Super Bowl, Goedert’s odds of setting a franchise record this season — or suiting up for another game as an Eagle — would have seemed long. At the start of the new league year, Goedert’s future in Philadelphia hung in the balance entering the final year of his contract, which contained no guaranteed money. Grant Calcaterra said he didn’t expect Goedert to come back to the team this year as negotiations carried on into May.

Initially, Goedert didn’t return, missing the beginning of the offseason program. But the two sides eventually agreed to a restructured deal, bringing Goedert back into the fold for one more season at $10 million.

Between the injuries and uncertainty that characterized last year for Goedert, Calcaterra said their leader in the tight ends room never lost his sparkle.

“He’s definitely had a lot of ups and downs,” Calcaterra said. “I feel like, especially last year, he’s always been a really consistent guy, on and off the field. He’s never too high, never too low. He always stays really consistent. I think that’s really important as a football player, and then also just in general, especially as a guy who is one of our best players. Just to be the same guy all the time. And I feel like it’s really easier said than done, and he always has done a really good job of that.”

Goedert said he never lost belief in his abilities, even when “really unfortunate” injuries prevented him from getting on the field. Neither did Hurts, who reached out to Goedert last offseason to lend his support amid contract negotiations.

In June, Goedert explained that while Hurts didn’t recruit him back to the team, he made him feel like he was an important piece of the group. Seven months after Goedert’s return, few players have been more integral to the Eagles’ top-ranked red-zone offense this season. That success, Hurts said, is a result of the time they invested in the work.

“No one knows necessarily what the offseason looks like or what the future looks like in the offseason,” Hurts said. “But I know he’s working and I know we’re spending that time together to improve. So just to see all of that play out the way it has and knowing that everything has been earned … it’s been good to be able to get that quality work in and then see it come out and shine and just build upon it.”

Goedert will have at least one more opportunity to shine when the Eagles face the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round on Sunday. The 49ers defense and its banged-up inside linebacker corps have given up the fourth-most touchdowns in the league to tight ends this season.

The veteran Goedert ought to know a thing or two about getting into the end zone. He said he also knows he plays his best when he’s feeling loose and cracking jokes before the game with his teammates.

“I think you’ve just got to be yourself out there,” Goedert said. “You’ve got to have fun. I’m really close with all the guys in the tight end room. They understand who I am from the time we’ve spent together. And if I get nervous, if I’m worried about something, if I’m scared, I feel like that will just pass on to them. So I keep it lighthearted knowing that you’ve just got to play the next play and play as hard as you can.”

More uncertainty lies ahead for Goedert, who is set to become a free agent this offseason. But Goedert ought to know that uncertainty can lead to opportunity, as evidenced by his whirlwind of a year.

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Goedert said. “I’m glad it worked out the way it did. I’m glad I’m back here.

“And hopefully, we can continue this year and go down the road and look back and maybe appreciate it a little bit more.”