Eagles to wait at least another week for Goedert

 

CHICAGO — The Eagles will have to wait at least one more week for Dallas Goedert.

Goedert, who has been on IR with a shoulder injury the last month, was not activated to the 53-man roster by Saturday’s 4 p.m. deadline. So he’ll have to wait at least one more week before his return.

It seems like there’s a decent chance he’ll be ready for the Cowboys game on Christmas Eve in a week. At least the Eagles hope he’ll be back.

Goedert, 27, suffered his shoulder injury against the Commanders back on Nov. 14 (thanks to a non-called facemask) and was put on IR, meaning he had to miss the minimum of four games. He’s waiting for the glenoid fracture in his shoulder to heal completely.

This breaks the Eagles’ streak of welcoming back a key player back from IR, following Jordan Davis in Week 13 and Avonte Maddox in Week 14.

Even without Goedert, the Eagles’ offense has been humming. In the four games without one of their biggest weapons, the Eagles are first in the NFL in total yards and second in scoring. And that even includes the offensive clunker against the Colts in their first game without Goedert.

Over the last three weeks, the team's offense really hit its stride, averaging 41 points and 463 yards per game.

"The thing that you learn is just that you have a lot of capable guys,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said. "It reconfirms to you that you have a lot of capable guys on this offense.”

But they’ll happily welcome Goedert back when he’s ready.

Because before the injury Goedert was having the best season of his professional career. In nine games, Goedert already had 43 catches for 544 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Coming into Week 15, even after missing four games, Goedert was still sixth in the NFL in receiving among tight ends and second among NFC tight ends. And his 60.4 yards per game ranks second behind just Travis Kelce.

While Goedert was bummed to suffer his injury, he was at least comforted knowing he’d be able to return this season. And he really enjoyed watching his teammates go 4-0 without him.

"It’s just been a lot of fun,” Goedert said. "Obviously, A.J. (Brown) and DeVonta (Smith’s) roles increased. Quez (Watkins) and [Zach Pascal], their roles increased. And they finally let the tight ends get a couple catches this last week.

"It’s just been a lot of fun to watch them go out there and nobody has really missed a beat. It’s good for everybody to get reps at different positions and just hope that when I come back I can help in any way.”

He’ll get to watch his teammates play at least one more game without him.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-vs-bears-dallas-goedert-injury-nfl-week-15

I think it ended up being the right decision. They didn't need Goedert and with the cold weather I think it was right not to risk him. I'm sure he'll be ready to go next week.