Dallas Goedert Ready to Assume New Role as Tight End No. 1

With Zach Ertz traded, the former second-round pick should see his snaps, catches, and touchdowns rise as he assumes more of a leadershop role, too

The Eagles were coming off the first Super Bowl in which Zach Ertz had made two crucial catches one on fourth down to keep alive the game-winning drive, the other the one that proved to be the game-winning catch.

Brent Celek was still several months away from retiring.

The Eagles drafted Dallas Goedert anyway.

Three years later, it has finally become Goedert's show, as far as the tight end room goes.

Ertz was traded last week; Celek retired at the end of August in 2018.

About four months after GM Howie Roseman made Goedert their second-round pick, and their first pick in the draft after trading out of the first round, where they owned the final pick after beating the New England Patriots in SBLII.

“Howie gave me a call and told me the plan that was being put in place before (the trade of Ertz) happened,” said Goedert on Friday. “It was kind of a weird feeling. We talked about it a lot this offseason about him going, and he was still here. It was just one of those feelings like I had been with him for so long. We did so much together. It was definitely a weird feeling.”

The Eagles have played games without Ertz before, but that’s always been for injury.

When they take the field in Las Vegas on Sunday (4:05/FOX), they will do so not only without their Pro Bowl tight end but also knowing that he’s not coming back.

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“There were like one or two games in my career that he didn’t suit up for and play. It’s just a little bit different. He’s not here. (I’m) stepping into more of a leadership role in the tight end room, in the locker room as a whole. It’s weird not having him here. He was Zach. An amazing player, an amazing person. It was great to have him here, but without him, it’s just a little bit different.”

Goedert’s role will increase.

He’s played 59 percent of the snaps in five games. That should go up.

He has 15 catches for 215 yards, adding up to a career-high so far 14.5 yards per catch with two touchdowns. The catches, yards, and TDs will rise. We will see how high.

He’s been targeted 19 times, which is less than four times per game.

That should go up, provided, of course, Jalen Hurts is allowed to exploit the middle of the field or capable of throwing over the middle, because right now, his between-the-hash targets could be the result of the lack of confidence the coaching staff has in him to make those throws.

Either or, the quarterback has thrown between the hash marks just over three percent of the time in his 208 attempts.

Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert / USA Today

“I’ve been waiting for my time since I got here,” said Goedert. “Obviously, I knew it wouldn’t be right away with Zach, and I didn’t know when it would be. Maybe I thought that me and Zach would play the rest of his career out together as teammates. That didn’t happen. Like I said, I’m just excited for this opportunity that I have in front of me.”

Goedert was on the Reserve/COVID list for more than a week before being activated on Thursday. He didn’t play in the loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and because he was still quarantining, he could not say goodbye to Ertz.

“Not to say bye to him, not being there for his last game here obviously sucked, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity in front of me and being able to make the most of it,” said Goedert. “…Neither of us really wanted to be splitting time. We both felt that we should be the No. 1 tight end, be in on first, second and third down. It was what it was.

“We’d been doing it for so long. I understood the situation that we had in hand with him and I here, but splitting time wasn’t something that either of us really wanted to do. Excited to have the role of being the No. 1.”

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Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.