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Breaking down Eagles’ options at TE after Goedert’s injury


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Breaking down Eagles’ options at TE after Goedert’s injury

 

Not only did the Eagles lose their first game on Monday night but they also lost one of their best players, at least for a while.

Star tight end Dallas Goedert injured his shoulder and will miss multiple weeks, which leaves the Eagles with a huge void at the tight end position.

There aren’t many players more important to the success of the Eagles’ offense than Goedert. Nick Sirianni always talks about how the passing offense runs through three players: Goedert, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. So the receivers will need to pick up some of the slack in the pass game.

But there will still be tight ends on the field and the Eagles might need to go with a committee approach.

Here’s what the Eagles have after Goedert:

Jack Stoll (6-4, 247)

Stoll, 24, is in his second NFL season after joining the Eagles as an undrafted rookie out of Nebraska in 2021. He began his rookie season as the Eagles’ No. 3 tight end but was bumped up to No. 2 in mid-October when Zach Ertz was traded to Arizona. He performed well enough last season to keep his No. 2 job entering the 2022 season.

Through nine games this season, Stoll has played quite a bit. He has played 244 of 618 offensive snaps this season, which means he’s quietly been on the field for 40% of the Eagles’ offensive snaps. But he’s still likely to see a huge jump. Goedert has played 88% of the Eagles’ offensive snaps this season.

As a rookie, Stoll caught just 4 passes for 22 yards. This season, it’s not like Stoll has turned into Tony Gonzalez but he’s looked better in the pass game. Through 9 games, Stoll has 4 catches for 49 yards and most of those have come in the last month. He had a 21-yarder against the Cowboys, a 13-yarder against the Texans and an 11-yarder on Monday night. So at least the Eagles have been getting him involved a tad more in the pass game.

Stoll is better known for his blocking, which is really why he was able to make the roster as a UDFA a year ago. He’s not as good a blocker as Goedert, but he’s very solid and is growing as a receiver. Based on PFF rankings, Goedert is the No. 4 tight end in the NFL; Stoll is 56.

Grant Calcaterra (6-4, 240)

The 23-year-old rookie sixth-round pick from SMU has been the Eagles’ third-string tight end since Week 3 but hasn’t seen a ton of action. Through nine games, Calcaterra has 71 snaps (12%), mostly getting on the field when the Eagles go to their 13-personnel package as an extra blocker in the run game.

Calcaterra is improving as a blocker but it’s clearly not his strength. He’s more of a "move" tight end because of his ability as a receiver. We haven’t really gotten to see that yet in the NFL. But Calcaterra’s one NFL catch did go for 40 yards in his debut. Since then, he hasn’t seen a target, but did get a start when the Eagles opened the Arizona game in 13 personnel.

In college, first at Oklahoma and then at SMU, Calcaterra was known for his ability to catch the football. As a senior at SMU in 2021, he caught 38 passes for 465 yards and 4 touchdowns. Calcaterra briefly stepped away from football after the 2019 season because of fear about his multiple concussions but he returned to the field last season. Some think that previous concern about concussions is the reason he was still available when the Eagles drafted him with the 198th overall pick.

Tyree Jackson (6-7, 249)

The former quarterback for the University at Buffalo has made a nice transition to NFL tight end. But that progress was halted in the regular season finale last season when Jackson tore his ACL. He’s been rehabbing since and began this season on the Reserve/PUP list. But the Eagles activated his 21-day practice window on Oct. 26, so he’s been back on the field for a few weeks already. The Eagles now have the option to activate him to their active roster if they choose to go that route.

After the Ertz trade last season, Jackson became the Eagles’ No. 3 tight end for the final nine games of the 2021 season. The Eagles were excited to see him in that role and Jackson played 171 snaps and started three games. While he was targeted seven times last year, he didn’t get his first catch until that meaningless regular season finale. In that game against the Cowboys, Jackson caught 3 of 5 targets for 22 yards and a touchdown before suffering the torn ACL.

We don’t have much to go on with Jackson, but he was impressive last training camp, especially when you consider this guy just made the switch from QB to TE just eight months earlier. Jackson turned heads in the training camp of 2021 enough to think there’s something there. Unfortunately, he suffered a back fracture in that training camp and missed half the season. And then he suffered that torn ACL in the final game of the 2021 regular season. But now he might have some opportunity again.

Noah Togiai (6-4, 244)

While Togiai is on the Eagles’ practice squad, the Eagles clearly like him. Because for the first two games this season, he was elevated as their TE3 behind Goedert and Stoll. That was clearly before the Eagles thought Calcaterra was ready. In those two games, Togiai didn’t play much, getting just 12 snaps on offense and 11 snaps on special teams.

In his three-year NFL career, the former UDFA out of Oregon State has played in 7 games with the Colts and Eagles and has been targeted just twice without a catch. The Eagles initially signed Togiai as a UDFA but when they released him at final cuts in 2020, the Colts claimed him. After the Colts released Togiai following the 2021 training camp, the Eagles brought him back to their practice squad.

In his career at Oregon State, Togiai caught 102 passes for 1,048 yards and 10 touchdowns. In his senior season, he had 44/406/3.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-te-options-after-injury-dallas-goederts-shoulder

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Let's be honest the options aren't great and the focus now needs to shift to the WRs. Brown and Smith are going to need to step up even more and Watkins needs to be more involved (but no fumbling!).

They are going to have to sprinkle in the TEs still though so those young guys are going to have to step up. Goedert is a huge part of this offense.

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On 11/17/2022 at 4:20 PM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Let's be honest the options aren't great and the focus now needs to shift to the WRs. Brown and Smith are going to need to step up even more and Watkins needs to be more involved (but no fumbling!).

They are going to have to sprinkle in the TEs still though so those young guys are going to have to step up. Goedert is a huge part of this offense.

Gut feeling says we see a shift from stronger use of 12 personnel alignments to more 11 personnel and Pascal gets an uptick in snaps in Goedert's absence.  He has a bigger frame than most of our WRs (6'2" 220 lbs) and is a good blocker.  He also has a nice physical style of play.  

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