Eagles Get Star Back From IR; Elevate Two Defenders For Sunday's Game Vs. Giants

Dallas Goedert is back on the Eagles 53-man roster.

Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles activated star tight end Dallas Goedert on Saturday and elevated two practice squad players, linebacker Dallas Gant and edge rusher Chuck Harris, for Sunday's regular-season finale against the New York Giants.

Goedert had missed the previous four games with a sprained knee suffered on Dec. 1 at Baltimore.

With Philadelphia (13-3) locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC coach Nick Sirianni plans to rest as many key contributors as possible. Typically Goedert, who turned 30 on Friday, would be in that category but it will be interesting to see if the Eagles get the veteran a few snaps to knock the rust off a week ahead of the postseason.

Another contributing factor is that the Eagles are light at TE in general after placing C.J. Uzomah on IR earlier this week. The only tight ends available Sunday other than Goedert, who filled the open spot created by Uzomah moving to IR, are Grant Calcaterra and E.J. Jenkins.

In a perfect world, the Eagles would also like to rest Calcaterra, the starter in Goedert's absence, but some contributors will have to play against the 3-13 Giants.

The bigger story is that Goedert is officially back for the playoffs and a Wild Card Weekend matchup with either Green Bay or Washington.

Goedert has been limited to nine games this season and really eight because he strained his hamstring on the third play of an Oct. 13 win over Cleveland. In those eight-plus games, Goedert has 38 receptions for 441 yards and two touchdowns, very productive numbers especially for an offense that isn't a high-volume passing attack.

Gant, an undrafted rookie out of Toledo who was signed after Minnesota rleased him from its PS, is being elevated for the second consecutive game.

The Eagles would like to rest starting LBs Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean, who missed last week's game with an abdomen injury. Veteran Oren Burks and rookie Jeremiah Trotter Jr. should get the lion's share of work against the Giants with Gant serving as the LB3 and special teams help.

Harris was claimed off waivers from Carolina on Dec. 8 after injuries to Bryce Huff and Brandon Graham. The eight-year veteran was waived on Dec. 28 when Huff returned from wrist surgery and the Eagles then brought him back to the PS.

Huff, rookie Jalyx Hunt and Harris should get most of the work on the edge in Sunday's game.

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