Eagles Add To Tight End Room, Sign An Experienced, Fourth-Round Pick From 2020

The Philadelphia Eagles need to decide on Dallas Goedert, and maybe this move will help.
Aug 17, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders tight end Harrison Bryant (84) runs the ball in for a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys in the third quarter at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images
Aug 17, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders tight end Harrison Bryant (84) runs the ball in for a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys in the third quarter at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images / Candice Ward-Imagn Images
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As the Eagles ponder what to do with Dallas Goedert – trade him, cut him or restructure his contract – they made a move to add some depth to the tight end position. Maybe Harrison Bryant will turn out to be more than just depth after he agreed to sign a one-year deal with the Eagles on Day 2 of the NFL’s new league year.

Bryant has started 33 games since joining the league as a fourth-round pick of the Cleveland Browns out of Florida Atlantic in 2020. He has played in 78 career games and has made 98 catches for 877 yards and 10 touchdowns. Last year, he played 13 games with the Vegas Raiders, making just nine catches for 86 yards in 213 offensive snaps. His decrease in production and snaps could be attributed to the sensational rookie season that Raiders tight end Brock Bowers had.

This is what the Eagles do at the tight end spot – shop in the discount section.

General manager Howie Roseman has drafted only one tight end since taking Goedert in the second round seven years ago. That one pick was spent on Grant Calcaterra, who was taken in the sixth round of the 2021 draft, the 198th player taken overall.

Since then, Roseman has hit the streets and free-agent market to supplement the position. He has been through Richard Rodgers, Jack Stoll, C.J. Uzomah, and E.J. Jenkins, who is continuing to transition from receiver.

Goedert is due to count nearly $12 million on the salary cap and the Eagles are in the mode of shredding salary to ease a cash flow and bring their bottom line a little more into balance as they prepare for a future of re-signing young talent such as Cam Jurgens and Jalen Carter and quite possibly Jordan Davis and Reed Blankenship.

That could leave Goedert a casualty of a more fiscal offseason, though it would be difficult to move on from a player of Goedert’s ability, even if he has missed several games the past couple of years due to injuries.

Already, C.J. Gardner-Johnson fell victim to the Eagles' maintenance offseason when he was recently traded to the Houston Texans. Bryant may help Roseman make a similarly very tough decision with Goedert.

More NFL: Eagles Sign Their First Free Agent, And It's A Running Back


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Ed Kracz
ED KRACZ

Ed Kracz has been covering the Eagles full-time for over a decade and has written about Philadelphia sports since 1996. He wrote about the Phillies in the 2008 and 2009 World Series, the Flyers in their 2010 Stanely Cup playoff run to the finals, and was in Minnesota when the Eagles secured their first-ever Super Bowl win in 2017. Ed has received multiple writing awards as a sports journalist, including several top-five finishes in the Associated Press Sports Editors awards.